FROM   THE   LIBRARY   OF 

REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.  D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED   BY  HIM   TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

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4. 


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JAN  20  1932 


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Centennial  Volume 


OF    TlIK 


First  Presbyterian  Church 


of  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


1784  —  1884. 


PITTSBURGH  : 

Wu.  G.  Johnstox  &  Co..  Printers,  711  Lihkrty  .Street. 
1884. 


INDEX. 

Page. 

Preface 5 

Historical  Sermons 9 

Period       I 15 

H 31 

Link  between  Periods  II  and  III 45 

Period  III 48 

Characteristics 67 

Closing  Words 92 

Dr.  Speer's  Sabbath  School  History 99 

Dr.  Paxton's  Sermon 118 

The  Church  and  the  City , 129 

Historical  Fragments ]  49 

Plan  of  Pews  in  Old  Log  Church 155 

Missionary  History 1 1 !  1 

Woman's  Work  in  the  First  Church 171 

Dr.  Paxt( >n's  Address • 187 

( 'haracteristics  and  Incidents,  by  R.  Lea 189 

Some  Eminent  Elders  of  the  First  Church: — 

John  M.  Snowden 200 

Harmar  Denny 203 

Francis  Bailey 207 

Supplementary  Statement  Concerning  the  Eldership 210 

Reminiscences  of  Dr.  Lea 223 

List  of  Elders,  with  Date  of  Election 225 

Reminiscences 227 

Appendix — Brief  History  of  the  First  Pastorate 237 

Letter  of  Redick  McKee,  Esq 241 

"       "  John  Rea 244 

Invitation  to  Anniversary  Exercises 245 

Dr.  Herron's  Testimony 246 

Dr.  Lea's  Address  at  Communion 247 

Copy  of  Grant  of  Property  by  Penn  Heirs 253 

Church  Organization 255 


PREFACE, 


Little  would  seem  to  be  needed  as  preface,  in  addition  to  what 
is  given  as  introductory  to  the  Historical  Discourses;  yet  it  is  a 
privilege  here  anew  to  record  the  church's  profound  gratitude  to 
God  for  His  goodness,  as  exhibited  in  its  entire  history,  and  in 
permitting  so  satisfactory  a  celebration  of  its  first  century,  and 
in  bringing  into  embalming  print  this  commemorative  volume. 
-( >ne  generation  shall  praise  Thy  name  to  another."  [Ps.  cxlv:4.] 
"That  the  generation  to  come  might  know  [the  praises  of  the 
Lord,  and  His  strength,  and  His  wonderful  works  that  He  hath 
done]  *  *  *  *  who  should  arise  and  declare  them  to  their 
children  :  That  they  might  set  their  hope  in  God,  and  not  forget 
the  works  of  ( rod,  but  keep  His  commandments."  [Ps.lxxviii:6,7.] 

Hen'  is  afforded  an  opportunity  also  to  express  sincerest  thanks 
to  the  collaborators  in  this  volume,  not  now  immediately  con- 
nected with  the  church,  without  whose  co-operation  its  materials 
could  not  have  been  gathered  and  shaped. 

The  volume  will  have  some  claims  to  be  read  even  by  those 
who  attended  the  commemoration,  because  of  the  new  material 
introduced  in  the  paper  on  "The  Church  and  the  City,"  and  in  a 
careful  re- writing  and  enlargement  of  "  Woman's  Work,"  of  the 
"Historical  Discourses,"  of  the  "  Historical  Fragments,"  and  of 
the  "Supplementary  Statement  concerning  the  Eldership,"  and 
in  the  Appendix. 

The  whole  material  has  been  as  carefully  edited  as  seemed 
necessary  for  explanation  and  for  the  narrative  of  the  centennial 
celebration,  while  the  editor  has  not  been  careful  to  erase  all 
repetitions.  Some  have  been  allowed  to  remain  either  as  testi- 
monies to  the  same  facts  from  independent  sources,  or  as 
improvement  of  the  same  incidents  in  different  moral  relations. 
Indulgence  is  yet  to  be  craved  of  the  many  interested,  in  view 
of  omissions  or  imperfections,  or  possibly  some  inaccuracies  which 


may  be  discovered.  It  may  be  said  of  all  those  who  have  helped 
to  make  the  volume,  that  new  duties  or  pressing  ones  elsewhere, 
forbade  that  entire  consecration  of  time  on  the  part  of  any  one 
of  us  which  would  have  been  necessary  to  make  a  faultless  book. 
Tt  has  taken  no  small  amount  of  time  and  patient  attention 
to  make  it  as  good  as  it  is.  If,  however,  that  which  has  been 
the  experience  of  the  writers  shall  be  the  experience  of  the 
readers,  viz  :  thinking  more  than  ever  of  the  old  church,  the 
result  will  indicate  the  book's  right  to  be,  despite  its  imperfections 
and  the  time  and  expense  incident  to  its  publication. 

Some  things  may  possibly  commend  the  volume  to  a  wider 
circle  of  readers  than  those  locally  interested.  The  position  of 
Pittsburgh  in  the  early  history  of  our  country  makes  all  that 
relates  to  its  inner  life  significant.  We  have  here  one  of  the 
developments  of  Scotch-Irish  immigration — a  most  notable  factor 
in  our  national  character.  The  formation  of  our  Synod  and  its 
declarations  on  matters  of  church  polity  may  awaken  the  interest 
of  those  who  care  to  discover  the  earliest  enunciations  of  the 
principles  of  our  denominational  life.  The  relation  of  the  Church 
to  the  Seminary  may  make  its  history  interesting  to  a  widely 
extended  ministerial  circle. 

Above  all,  may  the  book  be  useful  in  its  chief  end  and  aim,  as 
a  stimulus  to  yet  nobler  doing  and  grander  living  for  the  time  to 
come.  Earl  Russell  quoted  to  men  who  were  eulogizing  the 
distinguished : 

"They  who  <>n  noble  ancestry  enlarge, 
Proclaim  their  debt,  instead  of  their  discharge." 

In  the  deep  sense  of  the  debt,  and  claiming  no  discharge,  the 
First  Church  now  commits  to  its  mission,  whether  wider  or  nar- 
rower, this  memorial  of  a  century  earnest  in  endeavor  and  rich 
in  benediction,  and  to  God,  who,  sitting  "within  the  shadows,'' 
"keepeth  watch"  over  the  results  of  the  lives  of  "His  own,"  as 
certainly  as  He  puts  their  tears  in  His  "bottle,"  and  treasures 
their  prayers  in  the  "vials  full  of  odors." 

SYLVESTER   F.   SCOVEL. 

The  University  of  Wooster,  September,  1884, 


SABBATH  MORNING. 

April   13th,  1884. 


The  congregation  of  the  First  Church  had  heen  anticipating 
this  day  for  at  least  a  decade,  with  an  interest  deepening  as  the 
period  of  the  first  century  of  church  life  approached  its  close. 
It  was  a  happy  coincidence  that  the  Sabbath  day  was  the  very 
same  day  of  the  month  as  that  on  which  the  original  "  supplica- 
tion for  supplies"  was  made  to  the  Presbytery.  There  was  Easter 
morning  gladness  in  the  hearts  of  many  worshipers,  younger 
and  older,  as  they  went  together  to  the  house  of  the  Lord.  The 
thoughts  of  the  past  seemed  to  make  dearer  the  spot  where  hal- 
lowed associations  had  been  so  long  accumulating.  "I  love  Thy 
kingdom,  Lord,  the  house  of  Thine  abode,"  came  involuntarily  to 
many  memories.  The  occasion  began  auspiciously  and  continued 
deepening  in  interest  to  those  most  concerned,  to  its  very  close. 
The  notice  of  the  -Commercial  Gazette  (about  contemporary  in  age 
with  the  church)  is  as  follows : 

The  centennial  anniversary  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  was  in- 
augurated yesterday  morning.  A  congregation  of  1,000  people  filled  the 
magnificent  temple,  including  not  only  the  church  members,  but  persons 
connected  with  other  Presbyterian  churches  and  many  aged  ladies  and 
gentlemen  from  a  distance,  who  in  years  past  had  a  membership  here. 
The  auditorium  looked  cheerful  and  bright  since  its  recent  renovation 
and  improvement.  The  polished  chestnut  ceiling,  re-varnished  seats  and 
galleries,  new  cushions  and  carpets,  have  relieved  the  sanctuary  of  the 
sombre  gloom  with  which  many  people  thought  it  formerly  marked,  and 
the  morning  sunlight  streaming  in  through  the  stained  glass  windows  im- 
parted much  of  Nature's  Easter  glory  and  freshness  to  the  interior.  The 
special  music  selected  for  the  occasion  was  imposing.  The  grand  swell 
of  the  organ  in  Mr.  C.  C.  Mellor's  opening  voluntary  rolled  from  choir 


SABBATH    MORNING. 


loft  to  pulpit,  from  pews  to  the  arched  roof  above,  in  the  sublimest  chords. 
A  choir  of  thirty  voices,  under  the  direction  of  Prof .  Amos  Whiting, 
sang  "Hallelujah"  as  a  voluntary,  and  subsequently  rendered  the  anthem, 
"Gloria  in  Excelsis,"  by  Wilson. 

Three  ministers  occupied  seats  in  the  pulpit.  They  were  the  Rev. 
William  M.  Paxton,  D.  D.,  who  was  pastor  of  the  church  from  1851  to 
1865;  Rev.  S.  F.  Scovel,  pastor  from  1866  to  1884;  Rev.  S.  H.  Kellogg, 
the  present  stated  supply.  The  latter  divine  announced  and  read  the 
hymns,  Dr.  Paxton  offered  prayer,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Scovel  delivered  an 
historical  discourse. 


Historical  Sermons. 


Ex.  xx  :  5,  6. 

"  For  I  the  Lord  thy  <  Jod  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  iniquity  of  the 
fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  "fourth  generation  of  them 
that  hate  me  :  and  shewing  mercy  unto  thousands  of  them  that  love  me 
and  keen  my  commandments." 

There  can  be  no  sunlight  in  nature  without  shadow ;  and  there 
can  be  no  love  in  God  without  jealousy.  The  great  retributive 
and  rewarding  movements  of  God  equally  demand  generations 
for  their  visible  accomplishment.  Every  occasion  in  which  the 
generations  arc  brought  to  view,  reminds  us  of  this  great  law  of 
the  generations.  Down  through  them  all  goes  the  vital  weaving. 
The  thread  of  retribution  and  reward  appear  with  unerring 
certainty. 

But  we  have  reason  to  be  profoundly  thankful  that  evil  is 
short  and  runs  its  course  in  three  or  four  generations,  while  good  is 
indefinitely  long:  The  "eternal  years  of  God"  are  represented 
in  the  "thousands"  of  generations  to  which  God's  "mercy" 
extends.  Our  review-occasion  will  be  of  profit  to  us  if  it  teaches 
us  the  lessons  of  the  consideration  annexed  to  the  second  com- 
mandment !  And  it  ought  to  teach  us  that  some  evil  descends, 
but  much  more  good. 

The  importance  of  the  influences  which  have  been  so  largely 
molding  for  a  body  of  communicants  constantly  depleted  and 
constantly  renewed,  reaching  three  THOUSAND  souls  since  1818, 
is  evident.  And  then  consider  the  influence  which  these  souls 
have  exerted  in  their  turn  upon  all  around  them!  And  add 
still  the  direct  influence  of  the  place  itself  upon  the  whole  sur- 
rounding. No  one  can  rightly  estimate  these  things.  If  the 
problem  of  one  man's  influence  is   insolvable,  what  shall  be  said 


10  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


of  such  bewildering  complexities  as  a  century's  history  of  a 
church  like  this  brings  into  account  ?  But  we  can  study  and 
learn  where  we  cannot  fully  comprehend. 

The  motives  for  such  a  review  are  as  Aveighty  and  honorable 
as  they  are  numerous. 

(1.)     The  present  reaps  the  fruits  of  the  past. 

(2.)     The  present  is  the  product  of  the  past. 

(3.)  The  noble  men  of  other  days  were  the  friends  of  some  of 
us  and  relatives  to  others. 

(4.)  The  heritage  of  Christian  character  and  life  is  the 
Church's  true  glory — the  proof  of  the  power  of  her  Lord,  her 
Head,  the  Vine  of  which  each  Christian  is  a  branch. 

(5.)  The  knowledge  of  early  struggles  nerves  ws  to  effort, 
and  the  victories  of  their  faith  become  the  victories  of  our  faith. 

(6.)  The  complex  elements  of  our  life  of  to-day  need  to  look 
face  to  face  upon  the  more  simple  life  of  the  past. 

(7.)  How  shall  we  better  honor  God  than  by  remembering 
what  He  has  done  through  men  ?  Let  us  help  to  keep  the  good 
men  of  the  past  from  being  forgotten  !  Their  example,  their 
heroism,  their  loyalty  to  Christ,  their  graces,  their  sorrows  borne 
and  labors  accomplished  :  these  all  are  full  of  interest  and  use  to 
us.  Keep  their  memories  fresh  !  Church  traditions  are  as  useful 
as  those  of  the  family  or  the  nation  ! 

Allow,  also,  a  few  preliminary  cautions. 

(1.)  He  wrestles  with  a  giant,  and  must  needs  repeat  Joshua's 
miracle,  who  strives  to  put  a  century  into  an  hour.  A  detailed 
history  is  manifestly  impossible ;  and  yet  merely  general  history 
is  the  least  interesting,  and  perhaps  least  valuable  on  such  an 
occasion.  There  must  therefore  be  selections  made  as  to  the 
periods  on  which  most  attention  can  be  bestowed. 

(2. )  The  principle  of  selection  is,  evidently,  that  we  are  rather 
here  to  celebrate  beginnings — the  struggles  and  cares  of  the 
pioneers  in  our  church's  life  ;  and  since  we  can  speak  more  freely 
of  the  dead  than  of  the  living,  the  main  attention  must  be  given 
to  the  first  two  periods.  Moreover,  these  are  the  less  well  known 
to  the  present  generation,  and  there  is  more  need  of  setting  them 
forth  carefully,  that  their  just  relation  to  our  present  and  their 
instruction  for  our  future  may  not  be  lost. 

(3.)  There  must  be  the  same  omissions  in  regard  to  individuals. 
To  call  the  roll  of  the  officers  whose  faithfulness  suggested  their 


responsible  positions,  and  who  adorned  their  station,  would  leave 
only  an  indistinguishable  whirl  of  names,  and  for  special  mention 
but  few  can  be  selected. 

(4.)  And  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  by  the  distribution 
visible  in  the  programme  much  that  might  properly  have  been 
mentioned  in  the  first  contribution  to  the  history,  belongs  to 
subsequent  papers  ;  and  omissions  must  not  be  considered  final 
until  the  whole  exercises  have  been  concluded.  [Though,  even 
then,  some  which  would- have  been  gladly  avoided  will  prove 
inevitable.] 

(5.)  Moreover,  as  there  could  not  be  (and  probably  ought  not  to 
have  been)  any  consultation  among  the  writers  and  speakers  of 
the  occasion,  there  may  be  now  and  then  a  slightly  discrepant 
date,  or  a  divergent  judgment,  or  a  different  estimate  of  character 
or  movement.  These  will  only  serve  to  show  (after  final  correc- 
tions), that  there  never  was  (and  by  the,  nature  of  the  case  never 
can  nor  ought  to  be)  a  Presbyterian  Church  history  a  century 
long,  in  which  the  evidence  that  Presbyterians  are  "Independents" 
in  everything  but  church  government,  does  not  somewhere  appear. 

(6.)  Nor  is  it  to  be  expected  that  all  the  interest  or  profit  of 
the  occasion  will  be  found  in  the  more  formal  papers.  In  our 
united  worship  by  song  and  prayers,  in  greetings  and  reminiscences, 
we  come  somewhat  closer  to  the  heart-throbs  of  real  spiritual  life. 
May  God  vouchsafe  His  guidance  and  blessing  upon  all  that  shall 
be  sung,  said  and  done. 


The  History. 


PERIODS    I  -  III 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  15 


PERIOD     I 


The  First  Church  is  older  than  the  General  Assembly.  There 
had  been  formed  a  Synod  on  the  seaboard.  Its  creative  act  for 
Redstone  Presbytery,  reads  thus:  "At  a  meeting- of  the  Synod 
of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  held  in  Philadelphia  the  Kith  of 
May,  1781,  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Joseph  Smith,  John  McMillan,  James 
Power  and  Thaddeus  Dodd  having  requested  to  be  erected  into  a 
separate  Presbytery,  to  be  known  by  the  name  of  the  Presbytery 
of  Redstone,  the  Synod  grant  their  request,  and  appoint  their 
first  meeting  to  be  held  at  Laurel  Hill  Church,  the  third  Wednes- 
day of  September  next,  at  11  o'clock  A.  M." 

This  is  the  entire  minute.  No  bounds.  No  designated  churches. 
A  point  of  organized  force  in  a  vast  wilderness  (like  a  portable 
saw  mill  set  down  in  an  unsurveyed  forest).  This  was  the  first 
Presbytery  formed  west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains. 

That  Presbytery  met  "according  to  the  appointment  of  the 
Reverend  Synod  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  at  Pigeon 
Creek,  as  the  circumstances  of  some  of  the  members,  by  reason 
of  the  incursions  of  the  savages,  rendered  it  impracticable  for 
them  to  attend  at  Laurel  Hill.  U.  P.  P.  S.  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
John  McMillan,  James  Power  and  Thaddeus  Dodd.  Elders, 
John  Neil,  Dennis  Lindley  and  Patrick  Scott.  Absent,  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Smith."  * 

The  next  stated  meeting,  appointed  for  April,  1782,  was 
abandoned,  because  of  these  "incursions  of  the  savages,"  and  in 
October,  1782,  they  met  at  Delap's  Creek.  This  record  and  that 
of  Pigeon  Creek,  March,  1783,  and  that  of  Mount  Pleasant. 
October,  17*.°,,  are  searched  in  vain  for  any  notice  of  Pittsburgh  ; 

*  Incursions  were  not  feared  at  the  place  of  meeting  but  at  their  own  homes,  west 
of  the  Moncmgahela.  Mr.  Power  living  on  the  east  side,  was  present  at  Pigeon 
Creek— [VeechVs  Secular  History.  Centenary  Memorial.     Note  to  p.  348.] 


16  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 

but  in  the  fifth  meeting,  "Buffalo,  April  the  13ih,  1784,"  it  is 
recorded,  that  along  with  supplications  for  supplies  from  the 
congregations  of  Muddy  Creek  and  the  South  Fork,  and  a  vacant 
congregation  near  Robinson's  Run,  came  in  an  " application  for 
supplies  from  Pittsburgh." 

That  is  our  first  infant  cry!  On  the  next  day  (April  14th, 
1784,)  the  Presbytery  acknowledged  the  infant  by  taking  it  up 
in  arms  (Chinese  fashion),  and  appointed  Mr.  Smith  to  "preach  at 
Pittsburgh  the  fourth  Sabbath  of  Augvst." 

That  was  all.  Not  any  imposing  coming  out  of  a  great  eccle- 
siastical body  and  laying  formal  hands  on  any  spot  in  the  wilder- 
ness ;  but  just  a  cry  of  a  few  Christian  men  and  women,  and 
the  answer  of  a  single  supply  ;  even  the  name  of  "  Smith  "  has 
nothing  remarkable  about  it.  There  is  no  gratification  for  pride 
of  circumstance  in  such  an  origin,  however  gladly  we  celebrate 
to-day  the  fact  that  the  cry  was  uttered  and  the  answer  made. 

The  circumstance  is  the  more  peculiar,  because  neither  in  any 
record  of  the  Presbytery  nor  in  any  contemporary  record  is  there 
preserved  any  mention  of  who  signed  the  petition  or  presented 
it,  or  to  whose  care  the  minister  came.  And  thus  again  our 
existence  at  the  point  of  origin  seems  to  come  very  near  to 
a  disembodied  condition,  and  to  be  like  John  the  Baptist— a  voice 
in  the  wilderness:  but  like  him  also,  a  herald  of  the  Christ, 

Something  must  have  happened  at  Pittsburgh.  Hitherto 
nothing  has  come  from  the  inhabitants  gathered  about  the  old 
fort;  and  very  little  has  come  to  them.  Romish  chaplains  had 
baptized  and  buried,  and  administered  the  sacraments.  Beatty 
had  been  heard,  and  Duffield  on  a  single  visit.  Once,  perhaps, 
McMillan  had  thundered  his  message.  Somebody  must  have 
come  to  town  now,  or  this  supplication  for  supplies  would  never 
have  been  sent,  Fortunately  (and  as  an  encouragement  to  all 
who  would  do  good  to  destitute  neighborhoods,  such  as  this  now 
well-evangelized  community  then  was,)  we  know  something 
about  what  had  happened  and  who  had  arrived. 

Mr.  John  Wilkins'  account,  a  kind  of  autobiography  written 
for  his  family  in  1809,  and  kindly  furnished  me  by  his  descend- 
ants, is  an  illumination  at  this  point. 

"'In  the  middle  of  October,  1783,  I  left  Carlisle  and  set  out  in 
the  wagon  with  a  light  gun  in  my  hand,  and  arrived  in  Pittsburgh 
November  10. 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  17 


"'When  I  first  came  here  I  found  the  place  filled  with  old 
officers  and  soldiers,  followers  of  the  army,  mixed  with  a  few 
families  of  credit.  All  sorts  of  wickedness  were  carried  on  to 
excess,  and  there  was  no  appearance  of  morality  or  regular  order. 
As  I  have  already  remarked,  when  I  first  came  to  this  town  there 
appeared  to  be  110  signs  of  religion  among  the  people,  and  it 
seemed  to  me  that  the  Presbyterian  ministers*  were  afraid  to 
come  to  the  place  lest  they  should  be  mocked  or  mistreated.  I 
often  hinted  to  the  creditable  part  of  the  people  that  something 
ought  to  be  done  toward  establishing  a  Presbyterian  church  in 
this  place  and  encouraging  it.  After  some  time  a  Rev.  Samuel 
Barr  came  to  town  and  preached  a  few  sermons.  We  seemed 
pleased  with  him  and  made  him  an  offer,  which  he  accepted,  and 
was  ordained  in  what  is  now  called  the  First  Presbyterian  con- 
gregation in  Pittsburgh.  We  labored  much  among  the  people 
to  join  us  before  we  amounted  to  what  appeared  a  small  congre- 
gation. Shortly  after  Mr.  Barr's  establishment  we  authorized 
him  to  go  to  Philadelphia  to  beg  for  us  and  to  apply  to  Presby- 
tery for  lots  for  a  graveyard,  and  also  to  the  Legislature  to 
incorporate  us  as  a  congregation,  in  all  of  which  he  succeeded. 
AVe  then  began  to  take  in  subscriptions  to  build  a  house  of 
worship. 

"'Mr.  Wallace  and  myself  were  appointed  to  take  subscriptions 
and  superintend  the  building.  Mr.  Wallace  paid  little  attention 
and  the  whole  business  devolved  on  me.  I  myself  worked  at  the 
building  with  my  own  hands  and  chunked  and  daubed  it  with 
the  assistance  of  attendants.  At  a  settlement  with  the  trustees 
the  20th  day  of  October,  1793,  the  congregation  remained  in  my 
debt  for  money  advanced  over  the  subscription  £4  3s.  5d.,  which 
sum  is  not  yet  settled.  After  some  time  Mr.  Barr  got  in  a 
dispute  with  the  congregation,  was  reduced  by  the  Presbytery 
and  left  us.     Since  then  we  have  had  several  ministers. 

'"We  have  now  where  the  old  church  stood  an  elegant  new 
church,  and  our  congregation  has  become  large  and  respectable 
and  is  daily  increasing.  At  the  first  establishment  of  the  church 
I  was  ordained  as  an  elder,  and  still  hold  that  position.'  " 
.  (It  is  also  stated  on  excellent  authority  that  Major  Isaac 
Craig,  one  of  the  six  officers  of  the  revolutionary  army  among 
the  eleven  original  trustees,  was  on  the  building  committee  of  this 
and  of  the  1804  church  edifice  also.) 


IS  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


Religion  seems  to  have  been  invisible  to  at  least  one  early 
observer.— Arthur  Lee,  a  Virginian,  visited  Pittsburgh  in  1783, 
and  wrote  thus  :  "  It  is  inhabited  almost  entirely  by  Scots  and  Irish, 
who  live  in  paltry  log  houses  and  are  as  dirty  as  in  the  north  of 
Ireland,  or  even  Scotland.  *  *  There  are  in  town  four 
attorneys,  two  doctors,  and  not  a  priest  of  any  persuasion,  nor 
church  nor  chapel,  so  that  they  are  likely  to  be  damned  without 
benefit  of  clergy." 

But  Arthur  Lee  had  no  ear  forthe  echoesof  Beatty  and  Duffield's 
preaching  in  1758  and  1766,  of  McClure's  in  1772,  of  McMillan's 
in  1775,  besides  that  of  the  garrison  pastors,  and  of  the  faithful 
German  (Webber)  since  1782.  Nor  did  he  see  that  the  First 
Church  had  already  arrived  in  John  Wilkins,  who,  though  he 
found  "some  sort  of  a  town"  and  only  "a  few  families  of  credit," 
and  traders  with  Indians  as  unprincipled  as  any  of  our  own  day, 
and  found,  too,  that  "Presbyterian  ministers  seemed  to  avoid  the 
place  lest  they  should  be  ill-treated,"  labored  "much"  and  finally 
succeeded. 

The  First  Church  was  thus  bom  of  the  people.  It  gave  itself 
the  first  sign  of  life  in  applying  to  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone 
for  supplies  on  the  13th  of  April,  1784.  The  Rev.  Joseph  Smith 
was  appointed  to  preach  in  August.  No  other  notice  of  organi- 
zation is  made  in  the  Presbyterial  records.  This  year  of  17*4  was  a 
year  of  favor.  It  marked  the  close  of  the  controversy  about  boundary 
between  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  which  had  been  hindering 
everything  good,  and  a  clerical  member  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line  commission  brought  160  Bibles  to  be  distributed.  The  treaty 
with  the  Six  Nations  at  Fort  Stanwix  settled  many  conflicts  con- 
cerning Indian  titles.  This  year  Wesley  ordained  Coke  as  American 
bishop,  to  bring  hither  his  heart  of  flame  which  was  more  than 
His  consecration.  This  year  the  first  Episcopalian  bishop  for 
America,  Sam'l  Seabury,  was  consecrated  by  non-juring  bishops 
in  Aberdeen.  This  was  the  year  of  the  last  effort  to  make  a 
general  civil  assessment  to  support  the  established  religion  in 
Virginia.  This  year  interest  was  kindled  in  property  in  Pitts- 
burgh by  the  large  purchase  of  Bayard  and  Craig,  followed  by 
Wood's  plan  of  the  city  made  for  the  proprietaries.  In  fact  all , 
was  ready  except  the  restless  Red  Men,  who  were  not  finally 
(piieted  until  17!)4. 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS.  19 


No  record  of  the  preaching  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith  on  the 
fourth  Sabbath  of  August,  1784,  has  been  preserved,  even  in 
tradition.  The  people  were  not,  probably,  absent  at  Cresson  and 
the  sea  shore,  and  there  were  no  church-doors  to  close  in  the 
summer  solstice.  No  doubt  there  were  faithful  souls  rejoiced  to 
hear  the  precious  truths,  and  join  in  the  songs  of  Zion,  familiar 
elsewhere.  And  we  know  something  of  the  preacher  himself, 
though  so  little  of  the  audience.  The  Rev.  Joseph  Smith  was  the 
fourth  in  order  of  the  early  ministers  of  our  region.  He  came 
west  in  1779,  and  was  pastor  at  Buffalo  and  Cross  Creek.  He  is 
described  as  "  like  the  others,  a  graduate  of  Princeton.  In  per- 
sonal appearance,  he  was  tall  and  slender,  of  fair  complexion, 
well  featured,  and  had  eyes  that  were  fairly  brilliant.  His 
preaching  was  energetic  and  full  of  convincing  force.  In  fidelity 
to  his  work,  in  depth  and  fervor  of  piety,  and  in  zeal  to  promote 
religion  and  education,  he  was  not  inferior  to  any  of  his  associ- 
ates."    [Hamilton  Redstone  Centennial,  pp.  32,  33.] 

Pittsburgh  came  again  to  Presbytery  at  Chartiers,  the  same 
year,  [October  19th,  1784,]  with  "supplication  for  supplies,"  and 
her  name  was  at  least  as  euphonious  as  those  of  "Pike  Run," 
"Horseshoe  Bottom"  and  "Bullock  Pens,"  which  appear  beside 
hers  in  such  petitions.  Mr.  Power  was  appointed  to  "supply  at 
Fort  Pitt,"  (they  scarcely  knew  our  name  then  in  Presbytery) 
for  "ye  fifth  Sabbath  of  October,"  and  Mr. Smith  "at  Pittsburgh 
— one  day,  at  discretion."  It  seems  a  small  amount  of  preaching 
to  exist  upon  for  six  months,  even  for  that  day.  The  Rev.  James 
Power  is  described  as  "the  oldest"  of  the  three  ministers  who 
formed  Redstone  Presbytery  in  17S].  He  is  thirty-eight,  of  fair 
complexion,  medium  height,  erect  and  rather  slender  in  person. 
noticeably  neat  though  plain  in  dress,  courteous  in  his  manners, 
but  not  lacking  gravity.  He  came  to  the  region  in  1 7 7 ( >.  with 
his  family,  himself,  a  wife  and  four  young  daughters,  all  mounted 
on  three  horses,  and  enough  room  left  for  the  luggage.  He  died 
August  5th,  1830,  aged  85.     (U.  S.  pp.  20,  21.)* 


::  Mr.  Power  was  born  in  Chester  comity,  Pa.,  in  174(5,  and  in  1776  was  ordained  sint 
titulo  to  go  to  the  "western  part  of  this  province."  He  was  a  dignified  and  graceful 
speaker,  with  a  distinct  yet  sweet  voice,  and  a  fine  memory  of  faces  and  names.  His 
written  and  committed  sermons  were  not  vehement  as  McMillan's,  nor  so  pungent  and 
alarming  as  Joseph  Smith's,  but  were  judicious  and  instructive  and  blessed  to  the 
edification  of  Christians.  His  communion  was  interrupted  at  Hannastown,  (July, 
1782,)  when  that  place  was  attacked  and  burned.     (0.  R.  p.  -42.) 


20  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


No  application  seems  to  have  been  made  to  Presbytery  in 
April  or  June,  1785.  This  probably  occurred  because  of  the 
presence  in  Pittsburgh  of  that  afterward  eminent  man,  (of  whom 
more  is  to  be  said  at  another  point  in  the  exercises)  Alexander 
Addison.  He  appears  in  Presbytery  in  December,  1785,  and 
opens  its  sessions  with  a  sermon.  Not  fully  received  to  its  mem- 
bership, but  permitted  to  preach,  he  began  his  labors  in  Wash- 
ington, Pa.,  temporarily,  and  received  a  like  permission  again  in 
April,  1786.  But  finally,  differences  of  opinion  between  the 
Presbytery  and  Mr.  Addison  gave  the  law  and  the  Bench  their 
greatest  ornament  in  Western  Pennsylvania  of  the  last  century. 
In  October,  1785,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Barr,  licentiate  of  London- 
derry Presbytery,  Ireland,  appeared  in  the  Presbytery  of  Red- 
stone, having  had  his  attention  directed  to  Pittsburgh  as  a  field, 
by  merchants  who  met  him  at  the  house  of  his  father-in-law,  at 
New  Castle.  There  was  not  complete  satisfaction  on  the  part  of 
the  Presbytery  at  first,  but  Mr.  Barr's  work  began  and  went  for- 
ward without  formal  installation.  The  church  of  Pitts  Township, 
(now  Beulah  Church)  united  with  the  First  Church  in  the  call 
to  Mr.  Barr. 

Where  the  church  at  first  worshiped,  no  scrap  of  record  remains 
to  inform  us.  There  had  been  a  bent  fixed  toward  a  certain  prop- 
erty by  the  burial  there  of  certain  soldiers  and  officers  of  the 
earliest  days,  and  a  faint  tradition  exists  (coming  through  the 
descendants  of  Col.  Scott,  one  of  the  original  trustees)  that 
worship  was  held  under  the  trees  which  shaded  that  spot.  The 
church,  however,  had  no  legal  title  to  it  until  later. 

It  was  on  the  4th  of  December,  1786,  that  a  bill  was  intro- 
duced into  the  Legislative  Assembly  at  Philadelphia,  asking,  by 
an  amendment,  that  "lots  for  a  church  and  burying  ground" 
should  be  added  to  a  proposed  new  laying  out  of  things.  "  For 
what  church?"  was  asked.  "There  is  but  one  church  there,"  an- 
swered Hugh  Henry  Brackenridge,  the  representative,  "all  go  to 
that."  The  bill  was  printed  for  consideration.  But  it  seems  also 
that  earlier  than  this  Mr.  Brackenridge  had  "  drawn  up  a  peti- 
tion" on  which  another  bill  had  been  "founded,"  asking  incorpo- 
ration of  a  "Religious  Society  in  Pittsburgh."  This  bill  had 
been  presented  to  the  Assembly  of  1785,  before  Mr.  Brackenridge 
had  become  a  member  of  that  body.  When  presented,  it  proved 
to  he  a  hill  to  incorporate  a  "Presbyterian  Congregation  in  Pitts- 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  21 


burgh,  at  this  time  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Barr." 
This  bill  was  called  up  in  the  Assembly  on  December  12,  1786. 
During  the  discussion  on  it,  Mr.  Brackenridge  expressed  more 
fully  the  same  sentiments,  that  there  was  but  one  religion  in 
Pittsburgh,  and  that  they  wanted  but  one  church.  He  urged 
that  to  incorporate  a  Presbyterian  Society  would  be  to  divide  the 
people  and  to  make  probable  the  loss  of  the  church  thev  had, 
which  loss  would  be  "great,"  he  said,  "because  religion  was  use- 
ful to  keep  up  order  and  enforce  the  practice  of  morality."  Find- 
ing the  bill  out  of  order,  because  coming  over  from  the  formei 
House,  after  once  reading,  Mr.  Brackenridge  withdrew  it,  amended 
it  by  inserting  the  words,  "Religious  Christian  Society,  under  the 
care  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Barr,"  and  presented  it  again.  On  Thurs- 
day, 14th  of  December,  it  was  called  up,  read  a  second  time,  and 
debated  by  paragraphs,  ordered  transcribed  and  printed.  Thus 
it  rested  nearly  a  year,  during  which  time  we  were,  as  far  as  leg- 
islative power  could  make  us,  a  specimen  of  that  church  of  the 
future  for  which  some  are  still  striving.  But  when  the  bill  was 
again  called  up  in  September,  1787,  it  was  amended,  upon  motion 
of  Mr.  Findley,  to  read  "Presbyterian  Congregation,"  etc.  So  it  was 
ordered  to  be  engrossed  and  passed  finally  in  that  shape  on  the 
29th  day  of  September,  1787.  This  narrow  escape  from  the 
unionism  of  that  day  may  have  been  hastened  by  Mr.  Barr's 
mission  East,  to  obtain  money  for  building  and  a  grant  of  land. 
In  the  latter  office  he  was  successful  in  a  more  important  way  than 
in  the  first,  and  shortly  before  the  Assembly  had  acted,  (i.  e,  on  the 
24th  of  September,  1787,)  the  Penn  heirs  had  deeded  2|  lots  <.i' 
the  ground  already  designated,  for  the  nominal  "consideration  of 
five  shillings,  as  well  as  of  the  laudable  inclination  they  have  for 
encouraging  and  promoting  morality,  piety  and  religion  in  general, 
and  more  especially  in  the  town  of  Pittsburgh."  [Language  of 
the  document.]  This  deed  was  executed  to  eleven  trustees, whose 
names  often  appear  in  our  subsequent  history.  It  is  on  parch- 
ment and  still  in  our  possession.  On  the  ground  thus  secured, 
the  church  proceeded  to  erect  (some  think  had  already  begun  to 
erect)  their  first  house  of  worship — -a  structure  of  "moderate 
dimensions,  and  squared  timber."  Another  lot  was  purchased 
with  foresight  and  private  means,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Barr,  and  came 
later  into  the  hands  of  the  trustees  (1802.)  Happily,  we  have 
lately  obtained  the  manuscripts  which  contain  the  words  probably 


22  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


used  when  the  people  of  Pittsburgh  were  called  together  to  con- 
tribute (and  possibly  used  also  in  the  mission  eastward,  to  gain 
help  in  building,)  and  those  which  were  spoken  on  the  day  when 
the  house  was  first  occupied.  Let  him,  being  dead,  still  speak, 
who  first  ministered  on  this  spot,  while  I  read  his  very  words  from 
these  time-stained  pages  written  by  his  own  hand: 

My  audience,  you   have  heard  the  encouragement  given  in  my  text  to 
be  generous  and  useful  as  God  in  the  wisdom  of  His  providence  lias  en- 
abled us,  and  we  ought  to  he   influenced   and   regulated  in  our   practice 
thereby.     The  nature  and  design  of  the  bequest  which  is  now  humbly  re- 
quested, you   are  perhaps   already  acquainted  with,   but   let  that  be  as  it 
may,  you  will  permit  me  just  to  remind  you  that  it  is  for  the  purpose  of 
erecting  a  house  of  public   worship  in  the  town   of   Pittsburgh,   a   place 
where  the  like  has  never  before   been  attempted,  and  were  I  to  describe 
the  state  of  the  place  not  long  ago  it  would  excite  your  astonishment  to 
think  that  so  short  a  time  could   effect  such  an   amazing  reformation:  to 
think  that  a  number  of  people  who  had  been   bred   up  to  different  per- 
suasions should  unite  in   love  and  harmony  to   promote   the  gospel   of 
Christ.    An  instance  of  the  like  kind  is  rarely  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of 
modern  history.     How  pleasing  to  reflect  that  in  this  place,  the  very  spot 
of  the  Western  country  which  was  most  noted  for  vice  and   immorality, 
should  bid  the  fairest   for  piety  and  godliness.     My  audience,  to  reflect 
that  this   place,    where   not   long   ago  the  wigwam    and   tomahawk   were 
erected,  (wielded,)  and  nothing  but  the  yell  and  screech  of  the  savage  was 
heard;  how  pleasing,  I  say,  in  place  of  infidels  and  their  idols  to  behold 
then  the   temple  of  God  and  his  devout  worshipers  assembled  to  cele- 
brate His  praise  and  using  every  means  to  establish  religion  and  support 
His  cause.    Surely,  my  audience,  their  laudable  efforts  deserve  our  warmest 
encouragement.     Undoubtedly  our  efforts  in  this  instance  will  be  pleasing 
to  our  feelings,  and  if  done   with   proper  views  be   acceptable  to   God. 
How  pleasing  it  will  be  at  a  future  time  to  reflect  that  we  have  been  the 
instruments  in  the  hands  of  the  Most  High  for  promoting  this  most  laud- 
able purpose. 

It  was  a  joyful  day  when  the  house  was  completed,  as  is  set  forth 
in  another  sermon  by  Mr.  Barr,  an  extract  of  which  I  will  read  : 

He  has  not  only  made  the  world  for  our  accommodation,  but  also  pre- 
serves our  peace  and  liberty  by  His  blessing  and  goodness.  They  are  in- 
gredients without  which  life  cannot  possibly  be  comfortable  and  happy. 
They  are  blessings  which  we  at  present  enjoy  in  this  land  of  peace  and 
liberty.  Like  spreading  trees  they  are  flourishing,  and  our  inhabitants, 
under  the  sacred  shade,  are  now  fed  on  their  choicest  fruits.  But  why  ? 
To  what  cause  can  this  public  happiness  be  ascribed  ?  By  what  hand  are 
the  fair  plants  watered  and  encouraged  to  grow  ?  By  the  providence  of 
God  and  by  His  mercy  from  generation  to  generation. 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  2'-> 


(rod  has  not  only  granted  us  social  powers  but  He  has  established  His 
church  in  this  world,  where  the  devout  worshipers  may  assemble  and 
bless  His  name  together;  where  they  may  behold  and  admire  His  truth, 
which  endureth  to  all  generations.  This  day  affords  us  a  pleasing  in- 
stance of  the  divine  faithfulness  ;  to  us  His  benignity  hath  reached.  Look 
around  you,  my  brethren  ;  behold  these  walls  a  standing  monument  of  di- 
vine immortality.  This  is  the  place,  this  is  the  hallowed  ground  which 
God  hath  chosen  for  His  own,  and*while  we  behold  the  gift  gratitude  de- 
mands a  tear  of  thankfulness;  a  tear  poured  forth  in  the  abundance  of  our 
hearts  to  the  bountiful  giver  of  so  rich  a  blessing. 

*  *  *  The  church  is  the  sacred  place  where  the  Lord  delights  to 
dwell !  He  hath  promised  to  maintain  her  dignity  against  the  efforts  of 
the  wicked  and  the  malice  of  infernal  spirits.  She  may  be  brought 
low,  she  may  be  dishonored  and  despised  by  Satan  and  his  servants, 
ungrateful  men,  but  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  totally  prevail  against  her. 
She  is  founded  on  a   rock,   and   that  rock  is  Christ.  She  is  ye 

pleasure  of  ye  Captain  of  our  Salvation,  and  therefore  she  shall  endure 
from  generation  to  generation. 

Prophetic  words  of  simple  faith  !  How  bright  they  seem,  read 
at  the  end  of  a  century's  experience  of  their  truth  on  this  spot  ! 

Closing,  the  feelings  of  the  occasion  seem  to  reach  their 
strongest  expression. 

My  audience,  let  me  call  forth  your  gratitude  and  thankfulness  for  the 
distinguishing  blessings  of  the  Almighty  ! 

In  this  place  we  have  wandered  long,  alas !  too,  too  long,  in  the  wide 
field  of  folly  and  dissipation  !  It  is  now  high  time  that  we  should  return 
to  our  father's  house  !  I  blush  to  mention  it,  the  time  is  long  since  this 
place  was  first  inhabited  by  numbers  who  had  been  taught  the  glorious 
system  of  Christianity.  On  the  25th  of  November,  1758,  Gen'l  Forbes 
erected  the  British  flag  on  Fort  Duquesne.  Astonishing  to  reflect !  that 
29  years  should  be  squandered  away  in  carelessness  and  ingratitude  for 
the  protection  and  favors  of  the  great  Jehovah  !  And  has  He  been  kind  to 
you  ?  Has  He  brought  you  through  perils  and  dangers  and  preserved  you  in 
safety,  notwithstanding  your  thoughtlessness  and  unthankfulness  for  His 
blessings?  Oh,  how  should  every  principle  within  you  be  kindled  up! 
Borne  on  the  wings  of  gratitude,  how  should  your  spirits  soar  in  blessing 
and  in  magnifying  His  holy  name  ! 

But,  my  audience,  however  disagreeable  a  reflection  on  the  past  may  be, 
blessed  be  God,  the  dark  clouds  of  folly  seem  now  to  he  passing  by.  The 
sun  of  righteousness  deigns  to  lift  his  healing  wings  and  a  ray  of  gospel 
light  has  appeared  unto  us,  by  the  blessing  of  heaven.  Some  small  attempts 
have  been  made  to  cherish  and  foster  it.  Witness  this  dome!  where  the 
servants  of  the  Most  High  may  assemble  to  bless  His  name.  Happy  refor- 
mation !  pleasing  prospect !  Oh,  how  comfortable  to  reflect  that  the  place 
where  not  long  since  the  wigwam  and  the  tomahawk  were  erected,  and 


24  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


where  nothing  but  the  screeches  and  cries  of  savages  were  heard;  how 
pleasing,  I  say,  in  the  place  of  infidels  and  their  idols,  to  behold  the  temple 
of  God  and  His  devout  worshipers  assembled  to  bless  and  praise  His  name ! 
Oli,  how  happy  to  reflect  that  we  have  been  the  instruments  in  the  hand 
of  God  to  establish  His  church  and  support  His  cause  !  Such  a  prospect 
must  swell  our  hearts  with  joy  and  gladness  for  the  present  and  inspire 
sublime  satisfaction  in  the  latest  pages  of  our  memory !  And  if  done 
through  proper  views,  I  have  no  doubfit  will  be  acceptable  to  God.  How 
ecstatic  the  joy  which  at  some  future  period  shall  spring  up  to  the  mind, 
that  we  have  been,  the  instruments  of  rescuing  some  whose  minds  are 
pregnant  with  inveterate  habits;  and  still  more  of  rescuing  their  yet  in- 
nocent and  helpless  children  from  the  vices  and  crimes  of  their  fore- 
fathers! This  is  a  work  which  claims  the  attention  of  every  Christian — 
to  instruct  the  ignorant  and  propagate  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  and  of  his 
religion.  To  this  we  are  excited  by  every  consideration  of  the  public 
benefit  and  by  all  the  motives  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus,  for  it  has  the 
promise  of  happiness  in  this  life  and  in  that  which  is  to  come. 

•Thus  was  the'  first  house  (as  the  very  last  was)  dedicated  to 
the  work  as  well  as  the  worship  of  God,  and  especially  to  the 
salvation  of  children. 

The  house  of  worship  thus  erected  was  among  the  earlier,  though 
not  among  the  earliest  in  our  whole  region.  [The  author  of  that 
invaluable  book,  Old  Redstone,  says,  (p.  44)  :  "  I  believe  that  no 
churches  or  houses  of  worship  were  erected  in  the  country  until 
1790.  Even  in  winter  the  meetings  were  held  in  the  open  air." 
But  this  statement  is  so  far  modified  by  the  important  contribu- 
tion of  Judge  Veech  to  the  "  Secular  History  of  Western  Penn- 
sylvania Presby terianism  " — Mem.  vol.  p.  324 — that  the  assertion 
of  the  text  may  be  regarded  as  correct.] 

But  in  the  building  of  the  spiritual  house  worse  than  frontier 
difficulties  were  experienced.  The  church  beside  Fort  Pitt  had 
less  to  fear  from  the  Indians  than  the  more  exposed,  outlying 
districts  ;  but  its  moral  foes  were  more  vigorous  and  subtle  than 
the  sons  of  the  soil  with  all  their  forest-craft.  Liquor  was  a 
prominent  factor  in  everything,  social  life  included.  Cards  and 
dancing  (now  so  largely  banished  by  Christian  common-sense 
and  bitter  experience  of  their  unspiritualizing  effects)  went  with 
the  whiskey  as  adjutants.  Social  ties  were  often  irregular.  The 
years  intervening  to  the  close  of  the  century  were  years  of  con- 
stant trial  and  difficulty.  A  history  of  the  times  asserts  that  the 
church  was  not  "  remarkable,  early,  for  exemplary  piety.     Many 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  25 


of  thera  were  gay,  fashionable,  worldly  people,  conforming  to  the 
customs  and  manners  of  the  time*."     (Old  Redstone,  p.  .'177.) 

Mr.  Barr's  ministry  closed  in  17.su  amid  charges  and  counter- 
charges, the  Synod  finally  acquitting  Mr.  Barr,  and  the  Presby- 
tery finally  relieving  the  accused  members  without  any  grave 
penalty.  Whatever  misunderstandings  of  Mr.  Barr's  position 
and  relations  appear  in  opinions  expressed  within  the  last  quarter 
of  a  century,  disappear  under  more  careful  investigation.  His 
record  is  clear,  both  before  and  after  his  pastorate  here,  and  even 
while  here  in  the  other  half  of  his  pastoral  charge  [Pitts  Township, 
now  Beulah],  as  witness  the  following  documents,  which  I  found 
in  possession  of  his  family,  and    copied  in  Washington,  I).  C.  : 

"Londonderry,  May  18,  1784. 

That  the  Rev.  Mr.  Samuel  Barr,  after  having  passed  through 
a  regular  course  of  classical  learning,  and  finished  his  academical 
studies,  was  entered  upon  trials  in  our  Presbytery,  in  the  different 
parts  of  which  he  acquitted  himself  very  much  to  our  satisfac- 
tion. Since  licensed,  he  has  preached  the  gospel  within  our 
hounds,  and  elsewhere,  with  very  great  acceptance  ;  and  in  the 
whole  of  his  moral  character  has  behaved  altogether  unexcep- 
tionably  ;  maintaining  a  life  and  preserving  a  conversation  suit- 
able to  his  profession.  And  as  he  now  intends  to  visit  the  United 
State's  of  America,  we  do  earnestly  recommend  him  to  the  care 
of  any  Presbytery  to  which  he  may  apply. 

Signed  in  the  name  and  by  the  order  of  the  Presbytery  of 
Londonderry. 

DAVID  YOUNG, 

Moderator? 

Immediately  upon  his  arrival  in  this  country  he  was  admitted 
to  the  Presbytery  thus  : 

"These  are  to  certify  that  the  bearer  hereof,  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Samuel  Barr,  having  produced  to  us  from  the  Presbytery  of  Deny, 
in  Ireland,  testimonials  of  his  good  standing  as  a  licensed  can- 
didate for  the  gospel  ministry,  and  this  Presbytery,  as  .usual  in 
such  cases,  having  conversed  with  him  (to  satisfaction)  upon  the 
principles  of  religion,  was  received  under  our  care  and  employed 
for  nine  months  to  preach  to  the  congregations  in  our  hounds, 
which  he  did  to  good  acceptance,  obtaining  from  the  people 
among  whom  he  labored,  a  character  as  well   for  abilities  as  for 


26 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


religion  and  morals.  Having  also  passed  through  the  usual 
trials  for  ordination  before  us,  with  approbation,  and  declared  his 
acceptance  of  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and  Cate- 
chisms and  their  directory  for  worship,  discipline  and  govern- 
ment as  the  same  are  received  in  this  church,  he  was  this  day,  by 
this  Presbytery,  agreeable  to  a  permission  granted  by  Synod, 
solemnly  set  apart  to  the  work  of  the  gospel  ministry,  sine  titub. 

And  as  he  signifieth  to  us  his  inclination  to  visit  our  Western 
and  Southern  churches,  we  concur  with  his  desire,  and  do  hereby 
recommend  him  to  the  conduct  of  divine  providence  and  the 
kind  notice  of  the  churches  to  whom  he  may  come,  as  a  worthy 
minister  of  Christ. 

Signed  in  the  name  and  by  order  of  the  Presbytery  of  New 
Castle,  convened  at  New  London,  June  loth,  1785. 

Per  ROBEPvT  SMITH, 

Presbytery's  ( 'lerk" 

Mr.  Barr's  connection  with  the  other  part  of  his  charge  seems 
to  have  been  a  happy  and  useful  one.  A  minute  book  is  still  in 
existence,  covering  almost  the  whole  period  of  his  pastorate.  It 
is  a  very  minute  book,  to  be  sure,  but  it  is  the  only  scrap  of  record 
which  either  church  possesses  of  the  history  of  either  in  the  last 
century;  and  it  still  testifies  to  labors  and  success.  [A  full  copy 
of  its  record  has  been  made  for  our  archives.]  I  have  here  also, 
(by  the  kindness  of  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Barr)  the  word  of  satisfac- 
tion and  commendation  written  by  the  Session  of  Pitts  Township, 
as  Mr.  Barr  left  them. 

"This  is  to  certify  that  the  bearer  hereof,  Rev.  Samuel  Barr, 
has  been  our  minister  several  years,  that  he  fulfilled  the  duties 
of  his  office,  in  all  respects,  to  our  satisfaction,  and  ministered  to 
us  both  by  his  precept  and  example  as  became  a  worthy  minister 
of  the  Gospel. 

Given  by  the  unanimous  approbation  of  the  people  and  Session 
at  Pitts  Township. 

May  3d,  1790.  JOHN  JOHNSTON,  S.  C." 


Mr.  Barr  appears  to  have  made  a  visit  to  Pitts  Township,  in 
1795,  but  we  have  no  record  of  his  having  been  present  in  the 
First  Church  at  that  time.  He  was  subsequently  installed  as  pastor 
at  Christiana  Bridge  and  New  Castle  (Del.)  August  9th,  1791, 


HISTORICAL  SERMONS.  27 


where  he  died  on  the  31st  of  May,  1818.  He  was  born  near 
Londonderry,  Ireland,  and  educated  in  literature  and  theology  at 
the  University  of  Glasgow.  [Of  his  family  of  twelve  children, 
two  were  born  in  Pittsburgh,  one  of  whom  died  at  the  close  of 
1870.  But  two  now  survive,  and  the  dead  are  nearly  all  buried 
beside  their  father,  in  the  cemetery  at  New  Castle. 

We  do  not  know  the  salary  offered  to  the  pastor,  and  it  must 
have  been  difficult  to  fix  any  values,  while  the  continental  cur- 
rency fluctuated  so  violently.  [In  1781,  a  congregation  of  Dau- 
phin county  called  a  pastor  on  a  promised  salary  of  "600  bushels 
Of  wheat,  or  a  sum  of  hard  money  equivalent  thereto."]  We  do 
know  that  the  collection  of  the  salary  was  not  always  prompt, 
since  Mr.  Barr  reports  to  Presbytery,  on  April  18th,  1788,  that 
the  Pittsburgh  church  was  indebted  to  him  in  the  sum  of  £17« 
12s.  9d.,  and  Pitts  Township  in  the  larger  sum  of  £28  9s.  8d. 

It  is  now  impossible  to  sum  up  accurately  the  whole  case  and 
determine  the  just  dues  of  all  the  parties  to  the  only  great  trouble 
internal,  which  our  century  has  witnessed.  There  was  evidently 
room  for  difficulty  in  the  entrance  of  a  stranger  entering  the  pas- 
torate of  a  church  rather  lax  in  some  matters  of  deportment  and 
discipline,  under  the  care  of  a  Presbytery  noted  for  the  severity 
of  its  views  and  its  rigid  adherence  to  them.  It  is  possible  that 
Mr.  Barr  did  say:  "narrow-hearted  McMillanites"  of  the  Presby- 
terv,  and  that  its  members  thought  him,  in  turn,  responsible  for 
the  type  of  piety  in  the  church  which  was  unsatisfactory  to 
them.  It  is  possible  that  had  he  been  firmer,  those  who  needed 
discipline  might  have  been  less  aggressive.  This  much,  however,  is 
clear,  that  the  church  and  community  might  well  feel  a  larger 
sense  of  obligation  to  and  interest  in  the  first  pastor.  Mr.  Brack- 
enridge  said  of  him  in  the  Assembly:  "We  have  but  one  clergy- 
man, a  gentleman  of  reputation  and  a  good  preacher."  He 
brought  hither  a  full  measure,  for  the  time,  of  culture  and  of 
talent.  He  came  with  a  true  missionary  spirit,  and  at  personal 
sacrifice,  from  an  excellent  position  at  the  East.  He  secured  the 
necessary  conditions  of  church  permanency  and  growth  by  im- 
mediate personal  effort,  and  gained  it  a  right  of  way  (so  to  speak  ) 
by  wise  and  energetic  movements.  He  was  a  public-spirited  and 
useful  citizen.  His  preaching  (judging  from  a  small  number  of 
sermons  in  my  possession,)  was  evangelical  and  earnest,  and  his 
private  life  irreproachable.    Difficulties  might  perhaps  have  been 


28  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


• 


adjusted,  had  not,  as  at  least  her  daughter  supposes,  the  fears  <»!' 
her  mother  and  her  inexperience  in  the  trials  of  Western  life 
hastened  finally  his  return  to  the  East,* 

To  go  on  :  From  June,  1789,  to  November,  1792,  there  were  only 
supplies,  Mr.  Robert  Findley  being  the  principal  one.  From  No- 
vember, 1792,  to  October,  17'.):;,  Mr.  Samuel  Mahon  (a  licentiate  of 
( 'arl  isle  Presbytery,)  preached  and  received  a  call.  The  Presbytery 
conversed  with  him  on  "his  acquaintance  with  experimental  re- 
ligion, and  proposed  to  him  several  eases  of  conscience,  but  did 
not  receive  such  satisfaction  as  would  induce  them  to  proceed  to 
his  ordination.  Therefore  he  requested  a  dismission,  which  was 
accordingly  granted  him."  [Min.  p.  113.]  Mr.  Mahon  had 
graduated  at  Dickinson  College  in  1789— the  third  graduating 
class  of  that  college.  When  a  student,  young  Mahon  was  re- 
garded as  "  very  talented."  Because  of  the  obstacle  that  inter- 
vened and  prevented  his  becoming  the  settled  pastor  of  the  First 
Church,  he  retired  from  the  ministry,  studied  law  and  practised 
it  in  Natchez.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and 
finally  died  in  Mississippi. 

Afterward  came  Mr.  Cunningham  Sanlple,  who  preached  as 
supply  some  time  during  the  year  1794.  He  also  became  a  law- 
yer. Little  else  is  known  of  him.  He  baptized  that  lady  of  so 
remarkable  a  memory,  so  recently  deceased,  (Mrs.  Eichbaum)  who 


■'The  whole  matter  given  rise  to  such  an  exhibition  of  facts  as  this  : 

t.    It  is  plain  there  was  card-playing  and  drinking,  sometimes  to  excess. 

2.  That  the  pastor  had  been  misunderstood  or  had  not  been  sufficiently  explicit  in 
his  testimony  against  these  things. 

:',.  That  he  seemed  not  to  have  any  settled  practice  as  to  the  baptism  of  infants  of 
parents  not.  members  of  the  church. 

4.  That  there  was  no  dishonesty  on  either  side. 

5.  That  there  was  early  catechizing  of  children  ami  youth,  and  that  it  was  highly 
esteemed,  and  that  the  germ  of  the  then  future  Sabbath  School  was  present  in  Mr. 

Barr's  custom  of  appointing  "  the  children  to  meet  him  at  the  meeting-house,  there  to 
be  catechized,"  which  "  practice  was  followed  for  the  most  part  every  summer  since, 

i  ITSo)  on  the  Sabbath  evenings." 

6.  That  Mr.  Barr  differed  from  the  Presbytery  more  in  feeling  than  in  substance. 

7.  That  the  Presbytery  was  faithful  in  its  counsel,  as  witness  the  following  minute  : 
(p.  58.)  The  Presbytery  expresses  "  its  disapprobation  of  card-playing,  night  reveling, 
and  using  any  expressions  leading  to  immodest  ideas,  as  practices  very  unbecoming 
in  any  professor  of  religion,  and  such  as  would  lay  a  just  foundation  for  exclusion 
from  Christian  privileges  in  any  congregation  where  discipline  is  duly  exercised;  and 
that,  therefore,  such  of  the  elders  of  the  church  of  Pittsburgh  as  have  appeared  before 
us  to  be  guilty  of  such  things,  ought  to  be  and  are  hereby  admonished  to  abstain  from 
such  practices  for  the  future,  and  be  informed  that  without  a  reformation  they  ought 
to  be  further  dealt  with." 


told  me  that  an  old  friend,  in  view  of  Mr.  Sample's  later  life,  had 
suggested  she  should  be  "baptized  over  again." 

The  situation  was  still  far  from  satisfactory.  Indeed  the 
church  was  passing  through  the  deepest  shadows  which  ever 
gathered  within  its  century.  There  seems  to  have  been  little 
life  in  itself,  and  it  was  out  of  relation  to  its  Presbytery,  the  sole 
source  of  supply.  The  evidence  of  a  sort  of  chronic  irritation 
between  the  First  Church  and  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone  which 
is  apparent  in  various  ways  in  the  records,  seems  to  find  confirma- 
tion in  a  recently  discovered  fact.  In  taking  up  the  records  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  171)4,' we  find  a  petition  sent  by  the 
"congregation  of  Pittsburgh,  requesting  to  be  separated  from  the 
Presbytery  of  Redstone,  and  to  be  annexed  to  the  Presbytery  of 
Carlisle."  It  was  "moved  that  the -prayer  of  the  petition  be 
granted,"  but  decided  in  the  negative..  Messrs.  Smith  and  Hall 
Avere  appointed  a  committee  to  write  a  letter  to  the  congregation 
of  Pittsburgh  "relative  to  the  decision  on  their  petition  ;"  said 
committee  reported,  and  the  letter  was  ordered  to  be  transcribed, 
signed  by  the  Moderator  and  transmitted  to  the  congregation  as 
soon  as  convenient.     [Min.  of  G.  A.  of  17M4,  p.  413.] 

From  October,  179:-),  to  October,  1800,  is  almost  a  blank.  There 
are  no  Sessional  records  (as  there  are  none,  indeed,  until  1818), 
and  the  church  does  not  appear  in  Presbytery,  in  any  form, 
except  in  April,  1795,  to  ask  supplies,  and  then  again  in  June, 
1799.  No  meetings  of  Presbytery  are  held  here.  Time  of 
declension  is  mourned  by  the  Presbytery,  and  fast  day  appointed 
in  January,  1796,  for  "prevailing  infidelity,  vice,  immorality  and 
spiritual  sloth."  The  first  Tuesday  afternoon  of  each  quarter  is 
set  apart  in  October,  1797,  as  a  "  time  of  prayer  for  a  revival  of 
religion."  Then  the  Assembly  appoints  the  fourth  Thursday  of 
August,  1798,  as  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer;  and  the  windows 
of  heaven  are  opened.  Great  revivals  follow  in  the  country,  but 
the  city  is  as  the  heath  of  the  desert.  The  First  Church  is 
asleep  in  the  midst  of  a  harvest.  This  period  witnessed  the 
"  Whiskey  Insurrection,"  and  the  only  thing  we  know  favorable 
in  the  church's  history  is  that  her  leading  members  and  attend- 
ants, many  of  whom  were  high  in  local  office  and  of  wide 
influence,  were  altogether  true  and  largely  helpful  to  the  govern- 
ment. Especially  may  this  be  said  of  the  noble  Judge  Addison, 
whose  charge  is  still  a  model  of  faithfulness,  ability  and  courage. 


30  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


The  whole  period  closes  in  a  sort  of  gloom,  according  to  man's 
reckoning,  save  that  a  singular  gleam  of  promise  (long  to  be 
deferred  in  fulfillment)  is  perceived  in  the  preaching  of  Dr. 
Francis  Herron  once  in  the  old  log  church  in  1799 — and  this 
was  much  to  the  "  annoyance  of  the  swallows,"  he  quaintly  said, 
which  seemed  to  claim  the  neglected  building. 

This  first  period  of  our  history  may  be  characterized  as  that 
of  the  initial  draggle  for  existence.  It  reached  from  1784  to  1800. 
The  second  period — secondary  straggles  for  establishment — occupies 
from  1800  to  1811.  The  third — the  period  of  success,  reaches 
from  1811 — let  us  hope,  until  the  Master's  second  coming. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  first  period  subdivides  into 
five — thus  : 

I.     Inception. 
II.     First  Pastorate  :  December  21st,  1785-June  12th,  17*9. 

III.  Supplies  :  June,  1789-November,  1792. 

IV.  Mr.  Mahon  :  November,  1792-October,  1793. 
V.     Supplies:  October,  1793-October,  1800. 

Out  of  sixteen  years  the  pastoral  relation  had  existed  consid- 
erably less  than  four  years  ;  but  with  true  Presbyterian  pluck 
and  perseverance  the  church  may  be  described  at  the  end  of  the 
period  and  of  the  century,  as  "  faint,  yet  pursuing." 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


31 


PERIOD   II. 


We  may  pass  now  to  the  second  period.  Its  interest  is  not 
inferior  to  that  of  the  first.  Its  struggles  for  establishment 
supplement  those  for  existence,  and  lead  the  way  to  the  period  of 
permanent  and  large  success.  There  are  more  abundant  materials 
for  this  period,  and  some  who  retained  the  memory  of  it  have  but 
lately  passed  away  from  us ;  but  time  permits  only  an  account  of 
its  salient  features. 

First  among  these  appears  the  recurrence  of  trouble  in  the  re- 
ception of  the  church's  chosen  pastor  by  the  Presbytery.  Relief 
from  their  long  period  of  occasional  and  scanty  supplies  seemed 
to  appear  in  the  person  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Steele,  who,  fleeing 
from  persecution  in  Ireland  for  opinions  not  in  harmony  with 
Ireland's  consolidation  in  the  British  Empire,  was  drawn  to  Pitts- 
burgh by  the  presence  here  of  a  brother  engaged  in  business. 
Mr.  Steele  had  indeed  appeared  in  Presbytery  in  June,  1799,  and 
stated  his  case,  but  that  body  hesitated  and  referred  the  matter 
to  the  Synod — Mr.  Steele  being,  on  account  of  the  circumstances, 
destitute  of  the  usual  testimonials.  So  much  of  confidence, 
however,  was  felt,  as  issued  in  a  permission  to  preach,  and  he  may, 
therefore,  have  officiated  during  that  year  in  the  First  Church. 
In  October,  the  Presbytery  found  that  the  Synod  had  not  decided 
on  Mr.  Steele's  case,  but  had  referred  the  matter  to  the  General 
Assembly.  Thereupon,  they  concluded  that  they  could  no  longer 
authorize  Mr.  Steele's  ministrations.  In  June,  1800,  the  Assembly 
having  acted  meanwhile,  Mr.  Steele  applied  for  membership  in 
the  Presbytery,  "on  probation,"  agreeably  to  the  regulations  of 
the  General  Assembly.  [Min.  p.  191.]  The  Presbytery  seemed 
yet  unsatisfied,  and  postponed  the  matter  further.     At  the  meet- 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


ing  of  that   autumn,  appeared  Mr.  Denny  "with  a  commission 

from  the  Session  of  said  congregation,  as  their  representative,  and 
was  accordingly  admitted  to  a  seat."      [This   refers,  no   doubt,  to 
Major  Ebenezer  Denny,  who  was  not  an  "elder,"  as  entered,  but 
a  trustee.]      Mr.  Steele  was  received-  on  probation,  and  a  theme 
assigned   him  for  a  sermon  at  the  next   meeting.     An  examina- 
tion on  experimental  religion  shows  that  the  Presbytery  had  re- 
laxed nothing  of  its  diligence  against  " moderatism."     Mr.  Steele 
was  appointed  to  "supply  at  Pittsburgh"  until  the  spring  meet- 
ing, "except  one  Sabbath  at  Pitts  Township,  and  two  others  north- 
west of  the  Allegheny  river,  discretionary  as  to  time  and  particu- 
lar place."     This  was  certainly  "ample  room  and  verge  enough." 
Application  was  again  made,  in  the  spring  of  1801,  for  Mr.  Steele, 
as  "stated  supply  until  Presbytery  shall  finally  receive  or  reject 
him."     The  appointed  discourse  was  delivered  and  another  theme 
assigned  for  the  fall   meeting.     In  the  autumn  the  Presbytery 
"proceeded  to  examine,"  says  the  record,  "the  discourse  delivered 
by  Mr.  Steele  yesterday,  but  did  not  sustain  it :  but  agreed  to  con- 
tinue him  on  further  trial,  and  appointed  him  to  prepare  a  dis- 
course on  Matt.   xi:28,  to  be  delivered   at    their  next   stated 
meeting."     (p.  171.)     This  sermon  was  delivered  accordingly  in 
April,  1802.     Then,  runs  the  record— "Mr.  Steele  having  now 
gone  through  the  several  parts  of  trial  agreeably  to  the  regula- 
tions of  the  General  Assembly  for  the  admission  of  foreign  min- 
isters, Presbytery  did,  from  the  combined  evidence  of  the  whole, 
agree  to  receive  him  as  a  member.    Ordered,  that  the  Stated  Clerk 
lav  before  the  Synod,  at  their  next  meeting,  a  copy  of  the  above 
minute,  together  with  all  the  certificates  and  other  testimony  on 
which  Mr.  Steele  was  received."     The  Synod  at  its  first  meeting, 
September,  1802,  "approved  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Presbytery 
in  the  case,  and  agreed  to  receive  Mr.  Steele  as  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  body  in  America.      Mr.  Steele,  therefore,  being  in- 
formed by  the  Moderator  of  his  reception,  took  his  seat  as  a  mem- 
ber."    (Svn.  Min.  ]).  (i. )     Mr.   Steele  was  chosen    the  Clerk   of 
Presbytery  at  its  next  meeting,  (October,  1802,)  the  call  of  the 
"  congregation  of  Pittsburgh  put  into  his  hands  by  the  Moderator, 
and  Mi-.  Steele  declared   his  acceptance  thereof."     (p.  129.) 

Thus  terminates  the  long  process  of  reception.  There  is  no 
remnant  of  friction  in  the  record  or  traditions.  The  whole  shows 
how  careful  onr  forefathers  were,  even  in  the  midst  of  such  desti- 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


tutions,  being  rather  willing-  that  the  ground  should  be  seedless 
than  to  admit  knowingly  the  sowing  of  tares.  The  long  uncer- 
tainty, from  June,  1799,  to  October,  1802,  must  have  been  trying 
to  all  concerned,  and  the  keeping  together  of  minister,  people  and 
Presbytery  in  harmony,  under  the  ordeal,  is  complimentary  to  all 
concerned. 

But  the  trouble  was  not  all  external,  as,  indeed,  was  found  by 
the  church-general  just  after  Pentecost,  Dissatisfaction  within 
was  expressed  by  some  as  early  as  December,  1800,  and  a  suppli- 
cation was  brought  in  [to  Presbytery]  from  a  number  of  persons 
belonging  to  the  Presbyterian  profession  in  Pittsburgh,  respecting 
supplies.  Presbytery  were  of  opinion  that  the  prayer  of  the  sup- 
plication cannot  be  granted  on  account  of  some  existing  difficulties 
in  the  congregation,  and  with  a  reference  to  said  difficulties, 
agreed  that  their  next  meeting  should  be  in  Pittsburgh.  The 
meeting  took  place  in  April,  1801.  It  was  only  the  second  time  in 
twenty  years  that  Presbytery  met  in  Pittsburgh,  and  on  both  oc- 
casions for  considering  difficulties  in  the  church.  Happily,  there 
appears  no  allusion  to  the  matter  in  the  record  of  that  meeting, 
and  probably  some  composition  of  the  difficulty  had  been  reached 
without  the  help  of  Presbytery.  But  the  probability  is  that  the 
composition  was  but  temporary,  and  that  the  same  line  of  pref- 
erences appears  in  the  petition  which  was  presented  to  Presby- 
tery in  June,  1803,  and  which  finally  issued  in  the  formation  of 
the  Second  Church.  It  stands  upon  the  record  thus  :  "A  petition 
from  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  Pittsburgh,  praying  that 
they  might  be  erected  into  a  different  congregation,  and  .receive 
supplies,  was  laid  before  Presbytery.  After  mature  deliberation, 
Presbytery  agreed  to  refer  the  matter  to  Synod  at  its  next  meet- 
ing." At  that  meeting,  in  October,  1803,  held  in  this  church,  the 
petition  was  supported  by  the  following  memorial: 

"To  the  Kev.  Synod,  now  sitting  in  the  borough  of  Pittsburgh, 
[this  memorial]  most  humbly  showeth  : — 

That  we,  the  subscribers,  being  appointed  by  a  number  of  our 
brethren,  either  already  united  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  or 
desirous  of  being  so  united,  as  becometh  the  general  supporters 
of  the  Christian  cause,  do  represent  that  we  have  not  united  in 
the  call  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Steele  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Pittsburgh,  but  that  nevertheless,  being  adverse  to  a 
separation    if  it  could  be  avoided  consistently  with  our  spiritual 


34  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


advantage,  did  for  some  time  attend  the  preaching  of  the  said  rev- 
erend gentleman,  and  most  of  us  did  subscribe  to  his  support,  but 
rinding  no  kind  of  spiritual  advantage,  have  long  since  withdrawn 
and  are  now  as  sheep  without  a  shepherd.  We  bring  forward  no 
charges  against  Mr.  Steele,  or  any  member  of  said  church,  con- 
sidering that  if  even  sufficient  ground  should  exist,  this  is  not  our 
present  object,  but  assure  the  Rev.  Synod  that  our  present  object 
is  to  receive  the  immediate  benefits  of  what  we  deem  to  be  a 

Gospel  Ministry. 

James  Morrison, 

Wm.  Barrett, 
Wm.  Semple, 
Wm.  Gazzam." 
It  has  sometimes  been  thought  that  the  desire  for  new  rela- 
tions "originated  in  the  crime  of  giving  out  to  be  sung  two  lines 
of  a  stanza  instead  of  the  time-honored  one,"  [see  McKnight's 
History  of  First  Church  Sabbath  Schools] — but  this  does  not  ap- 
pear in  the  records.  When  the  commissioners  on  behalf  of  the 
"established  congregation  of  Pittsburgh,"  brought  forth  reasons 
against  the  petition,  Synod  did  not  grant  organization,  but  or- 
dered Presbytery  to  grant  supplies.  This,  even,  was  too  much  for 
those  who  felt  the  cause  would  be  imperiled  by  another  church, 
and  Alexander  Addison,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  (October 
7th,  1803,)  brought  in  a  protest  against  the  decision  of  Synod, 
and  appealed  to  the  General  Assembly.  The  appellants  take 
ground  against  any  authority  in  Synod  to  "erect  a  congregation" 
where  one  is  already  existing.  They  say  that  the  policy  of  sup- 
plies will  only  be  divisive.  They  do  not  speak  kindly  of  the  pe- 
titioners, either  as  to  their  thorough  Presbyterianism  or  as  to 
their  ability  to  sustain  a  church.  They  urge,  finally,  that  no 
"decent  support"  can  now  be  provided,  and  that  if  the  prayer  of 
the  petitioners  be  granted,  "instead  of  two  congregations  with 
two  pastors,  there  may  be  no  pastor  at  all."  The  protest  and  appeal 
was  signed  by  Mr.  Addison  for  the  trustees,  and  then  by  the 
pastor  himself,  and  then  by  the  Session,  at  that  time  composed 
of  Jeremiah  Sturgeon,  James  B.  Clow,  John  Wilkins  and  William 
Dunning.  At  the  meeting  of  Presbytery,  in  the  same  month,  a 
petition  "from  certain  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Pittsburgh,  to 
apply  to  the  Presbyteries  of  Ohio  and  Erie  for  supplies,"  was  at 
first  granted  and  then  reconsidered,  doubtless  because  the  case 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  .'>,") 


was  now  before  the  Assembly.  That  body  rendered  its  decision 
in  the  following  May — the  Synod  ascertained  the  fact  by  attested 
copy  of  the  Assembly's  minute,  October  4th,  1804,  and  on  Octo- 
ber 16th  the  following  record  is  made  in  Presbytery  : 

"A  petition  from  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  Pittsburgh, 
styling  themselves  the  Second  Presbyterian  Congregation  of 
Pittsburgh,  praying  for  liberty  to  supplicate  the  Presbyteries  of 
Ohio  and  Erie  for  supplies,  was  read  ;  and  Presbytery  finding  that 
the  judgment  of  Synod  in  favor  of  the  petitioners  having  supplies 
granted  to  them,  and  which  was  protested  against  and  appealed 
from  by  Mr.  Steele  and  the  elders  and  trustees  of  the  incorporate 
Presbyterian  congregation  of  Pittsburgh,  was  confirmed  by  the 
General  Assembly,  did  grant  their  request."     [Min.  p.  198.] 

Thus  begins  that  admirable  chapter  in  the  history  of  our  city's 
Christian  life,  which  has  been  since  written  by  our  brethren  of 
the  Second  Church.  It  was  evidently  "  of  the  Lord."  And  as 
clearly  was  it  of  the  people.  Like  our  own  origin,  it  was  not 
urged  nor  helped  much  by  the  Presbytery,  but  it  displayed 
vitality  and  perseverance.  It  was  not  created  but  simply  recog- 
nized. Supplies  were  appointed  until,  in  October,  1805,  the  Rev. 
Nathaniel  R.  Snowden  accepted  its  call.  From  what  so  often 
appears  evil  to  short-sighted  men,  a  broader  providence  evokes 
incalculable  good.  The  condition  of  difficult  finances  did  come, 
as  anticipated,  and  both  churches  floundered  on  for  many  years, 
but  the  kindred  struggles  only  trained  the  people  to  work  for  the 
same  great  end.  It  was  as  much  a  mistake  to  suppose  that 
the  formation  of  a  second  church  would  result  in  no  church,  as 
it  was  for  Mr.  Hugh  Brackenridge  to  think  in  1786  (as  he  said 
in  the  Legislature)  that  "  if  a  division  took  place  among  the 
inhabitants  in  consequence  of  styling  the  church  they  had  a 
Presbyterian  congregation,  they  would  be  unable  to  support  that 
one,  the  loss  of  which  would  be  great."  Growth  came  to  both 
churches  alike  in  proportion  to  their  faithfulness.  And  they 
grew  together.  Dr.  Herron's  hands  were  strengthened  later,  by 
the  coming  of  pastor  Hunt,  and  yet  more  by  Dr.  Swift,  who 
came  in  1819.  The  revival  of  1827  was  a  delightful  common 
experience,  as  other  revivals  since  have  been.  At  one  time,  when 
there  were  less  than  one  hundred  communicants  in  the  Second 
Church,  and  its  whole  income  was  $650,  there  was  also  a  press- 
ing debt  of  $10,000,  and  the  property  was  ready  to  fall  under 


36  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


the  sheriff's  hammer.  There  lias  been  one  heart  in  both  churches, 
and  indeed  at  one  time  there  came  near  being  one  organization, 
a  proposition  having  been  made  by  the  Second  Church  to  combine 
with  the  First  in  a  "collegiate"  charge,  Dr.  Herron  to  be  the 
pastor,  with  an  assistant  to  be  chosen  by  both  churches.  Full 
proof,  tli is,  of  an  amity  and  comity  never  since  disturbed,  ami 
which  recent  events  have  only  served  tit  consolidate.  .May  it  he 
perpetual. 

Another  event  of  great  significance  in  the  religious  life  of  this 
period,  is  the  formation  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh.  It  was 
created  by  act  of  the  ( General  Assembly  in  1802,  and  held  its  first 
meeting  in  October  of  that  year,  and  in  this  church.  One  of  its 
first  acts  was  to  receive  Mr.  Steele  into  full  membership  ;  and  on 
its  first  board  of  trust  appears  the  name  of  William  Plummer, 
one  of  our  most  esteemed  members.  The  first  six  meetings  of 
the  Synod  were  held  in  this  church  ;  Mr.  Power  had  been 
appointed  to  preach  the  opening  sermon,  but  in  his  illness,  Dr. 
McMillan  officiated.  His  text  was  from  Romans  viii>  6 :  "For 
to  be  carnally  minded  is  death,  but  to  be  spiritually  minded  is 
life  and  peace."  An  admirable  opening  theme  indeed.  What 
an  occasion  this  must  have  been.  It  was  the  first  great  represen- 
tative meeting  of  the  men  who  made  Western  Pennsylvania 
Presbyterianism.  A  roll  call  of  them  would  be  significant  of 
infinite  character,  devotion  and  heroism.  How  fresh  were  they 
from  great  revivals!  What  thunders  of  voice  and  truth  alike 
from  McMillan  !  What  pleadings  at  the  throne  of  grace  !  What 
gratitude  that  the  time  had  come  for  this  great  step  in  advance! 
Their  missionary  zeal,  born  of  a  stalwart  faith  in  God  rather 
than  in  any  discerning  of  signs  of  the  times,  flamed  out  in  that 
famous  first  resolution  :  "The  Synod  of  Pittsburgh  shall  be 
styled  the  Western  Missionary  Society."  Grand  thought  ! 
( Grander  fact  !  The  Synod  was  pre-eminently  a  body  for  its 
place  and  time.  These  representative  men — elders  as  well  as 
ministers — brought  with  them  Presbyterian  "organization"  and 
"distinctive  doctrine,"  and  its  "beliefs  and  teachings  concerning 
the  infinite  worth  of  the  human  soul,  and  the  dignity  of  man 
as  man."  They  graved  those  characteristics  upon  our  church 
in  this  region,  enumerated  with  equal  historical  acumen  and 
rhetorical  vigor  by  our  lamented  Professor  Wilson  : 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  37 


I.     Its  interest  in  and  service  to  the  cause  op  education. 
II.     Family  religion. 

III.  Loyalty  to  the  principles  of  constitutional  liberty. 

IV.  Faith  in  the  inspiration,  power  and  sufficiency  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  resulting  in  "mighty  revivals  of  religion,"  and 
in  the  "  spirit  of  missions." 

These  things  were  here — in  this  church — seminallv,  and  not 
for  this  region  only,  but  for  a  great  and  indefinite  West  with  its 
millions  ;  and  then  by  many  channels — for  the  world.  It  was  a 
"time  of  favor"  for  a  long  future;  and  it  was  a  season  of 
quickened  spiritual  interest."  "The  Synod  spent  some  time  in 
inquiring  into  the  state  of  religion,  and  having  heard  from  some 
of  their  members  that  there  were  comfortable  evidences  that  the 
Lord  was  graciously  and  powerfully  visiting  some  parts  of  the 
church  in  their  bounds:  On  motion,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
second  Tuesday  of  December  next  be  observed  as  a  day  of  fast- 
ing, humiliation  and  prayer,  to  implore  the  effusion  of  the  divine 
influences  on  the  churches  under  the  care  of  this  Synod,  and 
through  the  world;  and  at  the  same  time  thankfully  to  acknowl- 
edge the  manifestations  of  God's  grace  to  some  of  our  congrega- 
tions." The  encouraging  effect  of  the  formation  of  the  Synod 
and  of  this  first  meeting  was  visible  straightway.  There  was  no 
revival,  alas  !  in  the  city  ;  but  deeper  influences  were  felt. 
The  union  between  city  and  country,  so  long  delayed,  at  last 
began,  and  proved  effective.  Pittsburgh  knew  more,  now,  of  the 
great  cordon  of  living  churches  by  which  it  was  surrounded. 
The  meetings  of  the  Synod  continued  long  to  be  marked  events. 
I  cannot  quote  testimonies  other  than  to  allude  to  that  of  the 
Rev.  Richard  Lea,  which  has  been  published,  and  to  instance  this 
sentiment  of  Mr.  Daniel  Bushnell  (now  an  elder  in  the  Third 
Church,  who  united  with  this  church  more  than  fifty  years  ago): 
"  I  remember  what  interest  was  felt  when  the  Synod  met  there, 
(First  Church)  and -the  old  pioneers  came  together.  There  was 
old  Dr.  McMillan,  Dr.  Ralston,  Dr.  MeCurdy,  Dr.  Johnston,  Dr. 
Anderson — all  of  whom  I  have  heard  speak  in  the  old  church. 
They  were  giants,  well  fitted  for  the  times  in  which  they  lived, 
and  did  a  great  work  for  the  church  in  those  da  vs." 

The  next  striking  feature  of  the  period  is  the  church  building 
of  1804.  Doubtless  stimulated  by  a  new  sense  of  denomina- 
tional strength  in  the  surroundings,  and  anxious  to  develop  at 


38  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


the  centre,  and  in  nowise  daunted  by  their  own  feebleness,  (less 
than  fifty  persons  being  in  active  membership),  nor  yet  by  the 
establishment  of  a  second  church  beside  them ;  with  a  large  mea- 
sure of  confidence  in  the  future  of  the  now  growing  city,  the 
church  went  forward  with  considerable  dash  and  vigor  into  this 
its  largest  enterprise  hitherto  attempted.     The  first  steps  already 
taken  had  been  eminently  wise.     Pastor  Barr  had  foreseen  the 
importance  of  Wood  street,  and  had  bought  the  whole  lot  front- 
ing on  it  and  parallel  with  those  given  the  church  by  the  heirs 
of  William  Penn.     It  was   now   time   that  it  should  come  into 
possession   of    the   church.      On   the   21st    of    December,    1801, 
a   congregational    meeting  had   been   called  to  purchase  [this] 
"  lot  No.  440,  and  to  erect  a  new  church  building."     The  lot  cost 
about  £80— $400,     It  was  an  excellent  investment  and  stood  the 
congregation  in  good  stead,  a  section  of  it  selling  in  1814  for 
$3,000,   and  corner  sections  (substituted  in  place  of  the  former 
section,)  selling  in  1827  for  $4,000.     By  February  19th,  1802, 
the  subscription  had  reached  $2,400.     On  March  22d,  1802,  it 
had  been  resolved  to  build  of  brick,  forty-four  feet  in  width  and 
fifty  feet  in  length,  exclusive  of  the  steeple,  (which  it  was  in- 
tended to  add,  but  which  never  aspired).     An  admirable  building 
committee,  Messrs.  Isaac  Craig,  Ebenezer  Denny  and  Alexander 
Addison,  were  appointed  managers  to  "contract  and  carry  on  the 
building." 

And  now,  in  1*04,  as  testifies  the  front  window  figure, 
so  plainly  discernible  in  so  many  memories,  and  even  in 
the  lithographs  extant,  the  building  began  to  rise.  It  was  finish- 
ed, as  shown  by  advertisements  for  renting  the  pews,  in  1805. 
But  alas!  the  intervening  years  had  not  developed  liberality  and 
ability  equal  to  the  task,  and  the  embarrassing  debt,  for  that  day, 
of  $1,500,  was  found  to  be  an  accompaniment  of  all  the  rejoic- 
ings which  probably  accompanied  possession  of  the  house.  The 
new  brick  structure  changed  the  front  significantly,  from  Sixth 
avenue  to  Wood  street.  The  church  was  to  become  more  im- 
portant to  the  city.  Enlargement  and  permanency  were  meant, 
both  in  position  and  building.  But  the  struggle  seemed  beyond 
the  strength  of  the  church,  and  on  the  4th  of  January,  1806, 
the  Board  of  Trustees  gave  up  the  attempt  to  collect  the  money 
needed,  and  fell  into  the  way  of  the  times  and  established, 
through  the  proper  public  legislation,  a  h>tt<>nj.     There  were  two 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS.  39 


schemes,  a  first  and  a  second,  but  both  were  drawn  for  the  "fur- 
nishing" of  the  church.  The  amount  to  be  raised  was  $3,000. 
The  matter  seemed  to  linger  unaccountably.  In  March,  1808, 
the  trustees  ordered  the  "  completing  of  front  door,  painting  and 
plastering,  if  the  workmen  will  take  their  pay  in  lottery  tickets 
of  the  second  class."  (Min.  p.  39.)  At  the  same  time  a  "general 
statement "  of  the  whole  results  was  ordered,  but  apparently  it 
was  not  prepared,  as  notice  to  settle  the  second  class  scheme  was 
given  December  18th,  1809.  Suit  was  even  ordered  to  be  en- 
tered against  the  managers  of  the  lottery,  and  an  account  was 
again  demanded  for  a  congregational  meeting,  25th  June,  1810, 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  inform  the  Governor  of  the 
"delinquency  of  the  commissioners  of  the  lottery."  "No  correct 
account  of  the  amount  of  tickets  sold  was  ever  rendered,"  writes 
Judge  Snowden.  It  was  evidently  a  thorny  thing  to  handle,  and 
it  has  been  a  sore  spot  ever  since.  "One  thing  is  certain," 
(writes  elder  Snowden  in  1839,)  "that  lottery  business  resulted 
in  a  complete  failure.  It  brought  no  aid  to  the  funds  of  the  con- 
gregation, but  tended  rather  to  increase  their  difficulties."  And 
he  adds,  "No  better  result  ought  to  have  been  expected  from  so  im- 
proper a  measure."  We  may  believe  the  congregation's  repent- 
ance for  the  lottery  began  very  early,  for  Judge  Snowden  had 
been  an  elder  since  1812  ;  and  it  has  been  such  genuine  repent- 
ance that  never  in  any  entertainment,  or  bazaar,  or  fair  of  any 
description,  has  the  shadow  or  shade  of  chance  ever  been  suffer- 
ed to  appear.  "In  all  things  ye  have  approved  yourselves  to  be 
clear  in  this  matter." 

As  intimated,  the  debt  was  not  reduced.  Indeed  it  went  on 
increasing.  Efforts  at  loans  were  futile.  Repeated  resolutions 
calling  for  payment  of  arrearages  were  all  in  vain.  Some  new- 
obligations,  generous  ones,  were  undertaken,  and  in  June,  1810, 
the  debt«reached  $2,772,  and  this  was  exclusive  of  lottery  ticket 
accounts  of  which  they  had  no  statements.  It  was  evidently 
of  the  Lord,  to  whom  our  fathers  would  have  been  helped  to 
look,  had  the  just  moral  legislation  of  our  own  day  been  in 
force,  which  prevents  any  temptation  to  lean  upon  a  revolving 
wheel — a  very  unstable  underpinning'  for  anything,  and  much 
more  than  unstable  for  a  church  building. 

It  was  through  such  mingled  scenes  of  encouragement  and 
discouragement  as  have  been  outlined,  that  Mr.  Steele's  ministry 


40  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 

was  prosecuted  to  its  close.  There  was  uncertainty  at  its  open- 
ing, and  sufficient  uneasiness  throughout  its  duration  to  keep  the 
good  man  from  any  undue  elevations.  There  is  no  record  of  his 
installation,  as  there  was  none  of  the  pastor  before  him,  nor 
even  of  his  successor's.  But  his  work  went  steadily  forward. 
Liberty-loving  and  tyrant-hating  he  fled  on  account  of  inform- 
ers and  spies,  to  the  free  air  of  our  great  West.  While  here  he 
was  undemonstrative,  but  strong,  and  patient  and  true  to  his 
convictions.  He  was  tall,  of  excellent  manners  and  pleasant 
address,  with  fresh  complexion,  and  wore  satin  breeches,  silk 
stockings,  knee-buckles  and  pumps.  He  read  his  sermons,  though 
the  congregation  seemed  to  prefer  unwritten  ones.  He  was 
quiet  in  preaching  and  made  excellent  addresses,  without  manu- 
script, at  funerals  and  on  other  occasions.  Mr.  Steele  also  taught 
school.  "  His  Sabbath  School  was  a  real  one.  In  it  religious 
instruction  was  given,  and  given  freely,  as  in  contrast  with  the 
1<S(MI  Sunday  School,  sustained  by  those  noble  men,  Mr.  Johnston, 
Major  Ebenezer  Denny  and  Mr.  Gibson.  In  that  the  teachers 
were  all  paid  one  dollar  for  each  day.  Mr.  Lowrie  was  one,  and 
Mr.  Gillan,  a  Catholic,  was  another.  No  Bible,  and  no  prayer 
ever  used.  The  instruction  was  purely  secular.  It  did  not  last 
a  year.  The  boys  carried  off  the  stationery.  Mr.  Steele's  school 
went  on  from  1800  to  1806,  probably.  [Others  say  it  lasted  only 
two  years,  being  interrupted  by  the  new  building].  The  older 
scholars  taught  the  little  ones  their  letters,  and  then  listened  to 
Mr.  Steele."  [Mrs.  Eichbaum's  reminiscences,  given  me  in  an 
interview7  in  1ST 7.]  This  school  was  held  in  the  afternoon  of 
the  Sabbath,  and  attention  called  to  it  at  the  morning  service. 
Mr.  Steele  taught  alone.  He  is  said  to  have  had  a  "  kindly, 
familiar,  and  explanatory  and  conversational  way  of  teaching." 
Mis  salary  was  $450,  finally  increased  to  $600.  He  had  rive 
children,  three  sons  and  two  daughters.  He  lived  scantily,  but 
the  people  shared  often  with  him  what  they  had.  He  was 
highly  respected  in  the  community.  "He  was  a  Free  Mason. 
A  lot  being  purchased,  some  mechanics  gave  each  a  day's  work 
to  help  to  build  the  back  part  of  a  dwelling  house  into  which 
he  moved.  He  was  industrious  and  wrought  in  his  own  garden. 
He  caught  the  cold  which  caused  his  death  in  a  few  days, 
by  working  at  a  'fire'  at  four  o'clock  of  a  cold  morning." 
[Mrs.    Way's  memories.]      His  death  occurred   on    the    22d    of 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  41 


March,  1810,  and  was  regarded  as  a  severe  affliction  to  the 
church.  Already,  in  February,  1804,  Messrs.  A.ddison,  Steven- 
son and  Clow,  had  been  appointed  to  memorialize  the  General 
Assembly  against  a  decree  of  the  Synod  in  liis  case,  and  Judge 
Addison's  name  in  the  protest  and  appeal  already  referred  to,  is 
evidence  that  Mr.  Steele  must  have  been  both  a  faithful  and  a 
competent  pastor.  Judge  Snowden  writes  of  him  as  "much 
beloved  by  the  church,"  and  that  "his  death  caused  much  sym- 
pathy." Resolutions  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  [it  is  a  grief 
every  way,  that  no  Sessional  records  of  this  period  exist]  were 
passed,  expressing  respect  and  esteem.  The  church  was  ordered 
to  be  draped  in  mourning.  The  second  resolution  gave  the  pew 
rents  to  the  widow  until  another  pastor f should  be  chosen,  and 
after  that  an  annuity  of  $200  during  her  widowhood.  This  was 
finally  commuted,  December  Kith,  1.S17,  by  the  payment  of  a 
single  sum  of  $400.  It  is  an  almost  unparalleled  example,  and 
was  deserved  by  this  ladylike  and  talented  woman. 

The  religious  life  of  this  whole  period  may  readily  he  inferred 
from  the  facts  now  recited.  The  tide  was  very  strong  toward 
much  that  did  not  favor  high  spirituality.  Church  growth  was 
slow  and  devotional  life  feeble.  Immigration  brought  help,  hut 
there  were  few  conversions.  The  total  number  of  communicants 
in  the  year  of  Mr.  Steele's  death  was  fifty-eight  only.  The 
struggles  of  the  period  had  eventuated  in  establishment,  as  those 
of  the  previous  period  in  existence,  and  in  neither  case  with  any 
great  margin.  The  depression  of  debt  was  the  more  keenly  felt. 
because  of  the  ineffectual  (because  improper)  method  of  attempt- 
ing to  remove  it.  But  real  progress  was  being  made,  neverthe- 
less. The  church  now  appears  in  Presbytery,  for  the  first  time, 
with  £5  for  the  Commissioner's  fund,  entered  naively,  I  think, 
to  "the  First  Presbyterian  Congregation  of  Pittsburgh — the  first 
collection."  (Min.  p.  210.)  Our  church  seems  to  have  been  late 
in  learning  to  give  to  general  objects.  Even  in  1808  it  does  no! 
appear  among  the  missionary  contributors  of  the  Presbytery — nor 
in  1<S00,  nor  in  Synod's  tables  of  1808-1812.  The  membership 
numbered  45  in  1808,  -is  in  1809,  and  65  in  1810,  so  that  the 
last  years  of  Mr.  Steele's  ministry  were  some  of  the  most  fruitful. 
Around  us  there  had  been  growth.  Cross  Creek  Church  num- 
bered 255  ;  Cross  Roads  and  Three  Springs,  (  McCurdy's  charge,  I 
numbered  2o7,  and  many  others  about  200  members.  Putt  the 
4 


A'2  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


city  and  the  country  were  widely  dissimilar  in  moral  condition.  It 
is  the  record  of  a  struggle  indeed  within  these  corporation  lines. 
We  need  far  better  knowledge  of  the  times  and  manners  and 
morals  and  limited  resources  of  the  time,  to  enable  us  to  under- 
stand the  sacrifice  and  labor  ami  prayer  of  faithful  ones  which  is 
represented  in  the  maintenance  and  advancement  of  our  church 
during  the  first  decade  of  this  century.  Think  how  differently 
our  well  equipped  churches  start  into  being  nowadays  !  Let  lis 
remember  that  their  patience  and  endurance  instruct  us  in  our 
enlarged  work,  and  that  even  in  mistakes  they  were  working  out 
their  education  and  our  safety. 

Ho  cuds  Period  II — in  establishment. 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  43 


PERIOD    III 


Concluding  Sermon,  April  20th,  1884— Sabbath  Morning. 


1  Timothy,  Hi  :  14,  15. 

" These  things  write  I  unto  thee  that  thou  mightest  know  how  thou 
oughtest  to  behave  thyself  in  the  house  of  ( k>d,  which  is  the  church  of  the 
living  God,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth." 

That  is  the  moral  purpose  which  all  the  recitals  of  this  golden 
week  are  designed  to  subserve.  Whether  celebration  of  the 
virtues  and  graces  of  the  good  men  and  women  of  other  days,  or 
recounting  their  hair-breadth  escapes,  or  even  acknowledging 
their  foibles  and  faults,  whether  remembering  the  days  of  dark- 
ness and  discouragement  or  those  of  favor  and  progress,  all  is 
meant  to  teach  us  how  to  lead  our  lives  in. relation  to  the  church 
of  our  own  day,  with  all  its  peculiar  difficulties  and  responsibili- 
ties or  larger  means  and  opportunities. 

And  to  this  we  ought  to  be  stimulated  by  remembering  what 
the  "house  of  God"  is!  Deficient  in  many  things  it  may  be, 
soiled  with  this  and  that  spot,  marred  with  such  and  such  excres- 
cences, and  sometimes  weak  to  tottering,  yet  remember,  if  you 
would  behave  rightly  in  it,  that  it  is  the  "church  of  the  living  God, 
the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth." 

And  nothing  can  prove  it  better  than  the  history  of  a  single 
century  in  a  single  church.  Here,  but  for  the  grace  of  God  and 
the  truth  of  God,  there  had  been  found  unsanctified  human 
nature  enough  to  have  buried  the  church  under  its  corruptions, 
or  exploded  it  by  contentions,  or  to  have   forsaken  its   work   and 


44  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


worship  for  worldliness.  The  contrary — so  richly  proven — is  due 
to  the  great  fact  of  the  text.  The  First  Church  lias  been  held  and 
led  and  disciplined  as  part  of  the  "church  of  the  living  God,"  and 
it  has  been  the  "pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth,"  because  its  own 
steadiness  came  from  the  unfailing  power  of  the  God  who  gave 
spiritual  life  to  its  members. 

Let  us  seek,  therefore,  in  what  remains,  both  directly  and  indi- 
rectly, to  be  learning  how  we  may  behave  ourselves  in  and  toward 
and  through  the  "house  of  God,  which  is  the  church  of  the  living 
God,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth." 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS.  4") 


LINK  BETWEEN  PERIODS  II  and  III. 


Few  churches  have  been  so  favored  as  this  one,  in  those  who  have 
supplied  from  time  to  time  the  periods  intervening  between  pastors 
— and  in  the  longer  periods  of  pastoral  absence.  Dr.  S.  H. 
Kellogg,  with  whom  your  satisfaction  is  now  so  pronounced,  was 
preceded  in  1879  by  Dr.  S.  J.  Wilson,  our  admired  and  lamented 
Professor,  whose  reception  and  honors  here,  just  a  year  ago,  are 
so  fresh  in  our  mind,  and  yet  seem  to  blend  with  the  mournful 
pageant  of  his  funeral.  He  was  preceded  in  1872  by  the  beloved 
and  persuasive  Dr.  Wm.  H.  Hornblower,  whose  kindness  won 
universal  esteem,  as  his  preaching  secured  universal  approval  ; 
and  with  his  ministrations  were  joined  in  the  same  year,  those 
of  the  lamented  and  admired,  the  many  talented  Dr.  M.  W. 
Jacobus.  They  were  preceded  by  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander 
Hodge,  in  1865,  whose  marvelous  facility  was  only  equaled  by  his 
depth.  Before  him  was  Dr.  W.  W.  Eels,  whose  how  still  abides 
in  strength.  And  with  a  long  interval,  during  those  years  when 
some  kindly  offices  were  necessary  to  its  very  existence,  the 
church  was  ministered  to  in  the  period  between  Mr.  Steele's 
death  in  March,  1810,  and  Dr.  Herron's  arrival  in  June,  1811, 
by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Stockton.  His  father  Robert  was  a  cousin  of 
Richard,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
Robert  Stockton  removed  to  Washington,  Pa.,  in  17<s4,  (the  year 
of  organization)  and  was  ordained  as  one  of  the  four  first  elders 
of  the  church  formed  there  subsequently,  (as  his  father,  Thomas 
Stockton,  had  been  an  elder  before  him).  He  was  one  of  the 
early  delegates  to  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone.  Joseph  Stockton 
was  educated  at  Canonsburg,  and  studied  theology  with  John 
McMillan.     In  1801  he    became   pastor  at    Meadville,  and   came 


46  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 

thence  in  1809  as  Principal  of  the  Pittsburgh  Academy,  which 
afterwards  became  the  Western  University  of  Pittsburgh.  Thus 
he  was  brought  to  the  aid  of  this  church  in  its  time  of  trial,  by 
those  scholarly  tastes  which  marked  his  -whole  life.  He  was 
received  By  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone,  October,  1810,  and 
appointed  supply  of  the  "  First  Congregation  of  Pittsburgh,  as 
often  as  convenient,"  After  his  service  here,  which  was  of  the 
greatest  value  to  the  church,  he  continued  teaching  until  1819.* 
Then  removing  to  Allegheny,  he  gathered  its  first  handful  of 
worshipers  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  late)-  organization  of 
the  First  Church  of  Allegheny.  In  the  history  of  that  church 
the  fuller  record  of  his  labors  has  been  made.  He  was  one  of 
the  most  accomplished  of  the  early  ministers.  His  published 
school  books  aided  education  largely,  as  did  his  own  admirable 
teaching.  He  was  skilled  in  Medicine,  and  his  unfinished  volume 
on  Theology  displays  the  depth  of  his  acquirements,  as  other 
things  their  variety.  His  life  was  a  pattern  of  usefulness 
and  devotion.  Fie  was  President  of  the  "Pittsburgh  Sabbath 
School  Union,"  and  served  "with  efficiency  and  power." 

His  missionary  labors  in  all  this  region -were  given  almost 
without  reward  and  freely,  from  the  Arsenal  and  Allegheny  to 
Sharpsburg  and  Pine  Creek  (the  churches  at  the  latter  two 
points  being  erected  under  his  care).  And  even  his  service,  so 
important  at  the  time,  to  our  own  church,  was  probably  gratui- 
tous. A  certain  sum  was  declared  due  by  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees, but  there  is  no  evidence  of  its  payment.  He  probably 
refused  it,  as  family  tradition  says  he  did,  out  of  consideration  to 
Mr.  Steele's  family,  and  out  of  sympathy  with  the  struggling 
church.  The  name  of  Stockton  is  precious  in  many  a  home 
within  these  borders.  Snatched  away  by  cholera  in  October, 
1832,  and  dying  away  from  home,  he  was  sustained  with  an 
unfaltering  trust.     "The  battle  is  nearly  fought,"  said  the  dying 

*  It  was  in  1S14  that  the  Presbytery  feared  Mr.  Stockton's  conformity  to  the  views 
it  held,  ueeded  to  be  inquired  into:  but  it  was  easily  satisfied  with  the  absence  of 
evidence,  and  with  his  own  statement  in  which  "he  acknowledged  that  he  had  bap- 
tized a  child  for  Mr.  Cromwell,  which  was  apparently  at  the  point  of  death,  but  denied 
that  he  had  dined  abroad  with  any  party  or  parties  on  the  Sabbath,  or  that  he  had 
played  at  backgammon,  or  either  directly  or  indirectly  advocated  balls  and  dancing, 
and  that  he  had  decidedly  spoken  against  all  theatrical  exhibitions  and  the  circus." 
Thus  he  completes  the  list— Addison,  Barr,  Mahon,  Steele  and  Stockton,  which  shows 
how  watchful  the  old  Presbytery  of  Redstone  was,  and  how  decided  its  views  were  on 
"  questions  of  conscience.'' 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  47 

minister.  "And  will  you  gain  the  victory?"  said  one  beside. 
•  Yes,"  he  replied,  "I  feel  that  I  shall— I  feel  that  Christ  is  with 
me."  He  frequently  prayed,  "  Come,  Lord  Jesus  !    Come  quickly  ! 

Thy  servant  waits."  His  character  is  well  illustrated  in  the  fact 
that  the  Pittsburgh  Humane  Society  (the  object  of  which  was 
•'tn  alleviate  the  distress  of  the  poor,  to  supply  the  wants  of  the 
hungry,  to  administer  comfort  to  the  widow,  the  orphan  and  the 
sick,")  had  Mr.  Stockton  for  its  President  :  and  by  the  fact  that  the 
ladies  decided,  early  in  1832,  to  hold  the  meetingthat  resulted  in  the 
Orphan  Asylum  (so  successful  since)  at  his  house  :  and  that  when 
the  public  meeting  was  called  in  this  church,  April  17,  1832,  by 
Mrs.  Page,  Mrs.  Robinson,  Mrs.  Denny,  and  others,  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Stockton  "led  the  devotions."  Thus  one  of  his  latest 
official  acts  was  to  implore  the  divine  blessing  upon  so  fruitful  a 
beginning  winch  was  to  carry  forward  the  spirit  of  his  own  life, 
and  in  which,  so  many  years  afterwards,  descendants  of  his  own 
should  still  be  efficiently  and  officially  interested. 

The  record  of  the  church-life  of  this  intercalary  year  was  not 
one  of  discouragement,  though  naturally,  not  one  of  great 
progress.  The  total  number  of  communicants  in  April,  1810, 
was  sixty-five.  In  April,  1811,  twenty-one  infants  had  been  bap- 
tized, one  member  had  been  dismissed,  four  had  been  received  on 
examination,  and  six  by  certificate,  and  the  total  number  of  com- 
municants stood  at  seventy-four. 

Thus  was  forgred  the  link  between  Periods  II  and  III. 


4,S  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


PERIOD  III 


It  was  God's  time  now  for  the  third  period— that  of  success. 
The  Reverend  Francis  Herron,  pastor  at  Rocky  Springs  since 
1800,  came  to  visit  his  relative,  Dr.  Brown,  of  Washington,  Pa., 
and  preached  in  the  First  Church  by  request.  Great  interest 
was  excited  and  such  a  call  followed  him  home,  as  brought  him 
hack  again  in  the  spring  of  1811.  What  he  found  may  he  in- 
ferred from  what  has  been  said.  One  who  knew,  has  written  : 
"The  church  was  found  to  he  in  an  almost  hopeless  state  of 
pecuniary  embarrassment  ;  hut  far  worse  than  this,  religion,  by 
a  large  portion  of  the  people,  was  utterly  discarded,  and  with 
many  of  its  professors  had  little  more  than  the  semblance  of 
form."  Judge  Snowden's  history  states  that  "the  number  of 
persons  who  then  attended  upon  the  preaching  of  the  Word  was 
comparatively  small,  and  the  laxity  of  discipline  was  equally 
lamentable."  Dr.  Herron  was  heard  afterwards  " frequently  to 
speak  of  the  prevalence  of  fashionable  follies,  the  strength  of 
pernicious  social  habits,  the  influence  of  worldliness  over  the 
church,  and  the  mournful  absence  of  the  spirit  and  power  of 
vital  godliness  that  characterized  that  period."  [Dr.  Paxton's 
"Memorial,"  pp.  37,  38.J  Several  striking  traditional  utterances 
of  that  time  fully  substantiate  these  authorities,  but  they  need 
not  be  quoted.  Evidently  the  first  years  were  to  be  those  of 
struggle  still.  Things  more  powerful  than  the  "swallows"  of 
171)*)  were  now  to  be  encountered  and  dispossessed.  Indeed 
there  seemed  to  be  a  spiritual  chill  upon  the  region.  In  1813 
there  was  noted  by  the  Synod,  troublous  times,  "bitter  party 
accrimination"  was  lamented,  which  impaired  the  "peace  of 
society  "  and  threatened  its  "safety,'   and  "exerted  a  baneful  in- 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS.  4J| 


fluence  on  the  harmony  and  edification  of  the  church  of  God." 
(p.  100).     Growth  was  slow  in  every  direction. 

Allegheny  was  then  so  unimportant  that  the  Clerk  of  Presby- 
tery spells  it  without  a  capital  letter,  and  the  Presbytery  itself 
thought  it  "out  of  order  to  grant  the  Key.  Joseph  Stockton 
permission  to  preach  there."     (Red.  Min.  p.  263.) 

The  First  Church  numbered,  in  1814,  as  total  of  communi- 
cants, 65.  (Not  very  rapid  thirty  years  growth.)  And  in  1816 
it  numbered  only  78.  But  in  1  <S1 7  it  had  risen  to  120,  and  in 
1818  it  had  reached  loo.  Its  first  mission  contribution  recorded 
is  in -1815,  $60,  but  in  1818  it  gave  $177.36.  Here  is  noticed 
the  first  hint  of  organized  Woman's  Work.  The  "Female 
Cent  Society  of  Pittsburgh,"  gave  to  the  Western  Missionary 
Society,  $57. 

The  membership  seems  to  fluctuate,  though  there  was  real 
progress.  In  1820,  180  communicants  are  reported;  in  1821, 
174  are  enrolled,  and  in  1*22,  only  1B7.  Many  are  dismissed 
each  year,  and  doubtless  the  population  more  rapidly  changed 
than  now.  The  depression  was  great  at  the  point  of  the  finances. 
On  the  8th  of  July,  one  hundred  per  cent.,  was  added  to  the  pew 
rents,  to  be  paid  in  one,  two  and  three  years.  The  debt  amounted 
to  84,800.  The  salary  paid  was  but  $600  per  annum.  And 
this  though  the  city  was  in  a  condition  of  prosperity. 

But  difficulties  only  stirred  the  noble  and  evangelical  pastor 
to  exertion.  Some  method  of  relief  must  be  found,  and  early 
in  1814  the  sale  of  a  large  corner  lot  from  the  front  on  Wood 
street  was  finally  determined  upon,  by  which  to  pay  all  indebt- 
edness. The  $3,000  paid  for  it  by  the  Bank  of  Pittsburgh,  paid 
the  judgment  and  costs  of  the  sheriff's  sale  in  1813,  and  placed 
in  the  Treasury  a  balance  of  8181.  [Relief  it  was,  but  final 
loss,  for  when  later  efforts  (1808)  were  made  to  regain  the  prop- 
erty sold,  it  had  become  too  valuable.  Yet,  when  resold  to 
the  church  in  1824  by  the  Bank  (and  generously)  for  just  what 
had  been  paid  for  it,  and  two  lot*  sold  to  pay  for  the  one,  they 
brought  in  a  surplus  over  cost,  and  that  stands  yet  ( I  suppose) 
in  the  ornamental  iron  fence  in  front.] 

In  l<Sl(i  an  enlargement  was  determined  upon,  ami  carried  out 
in  1817.  What  interest  there  must  have  been  in  the  community, 
replacing  former  indifference,  is  shown  in  the  fact  that  the  pews 
sold  then  for  $7,470 — a  remarkable   result  in  a  church   number- 


f)0  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 

ing  seventy-eight  communicants.  No  better  proof  could  be  given 
that  the  people  were  beginning  to  learn  the  worth,  to  them,  of 
such  a  church  and  pastor.  The  light  in  the  candlestick  of  gold 
was  brightening  and  it  was  fittingly  symbolized  in  the  gift  of 
the  famous  O'Hara  chandelier. 

Progress  was  still  to  be  made,  and  in  1818  the  pulpit  was 
altered  and  the  session  room  built.  There  was  now  a  place  to 
pray  for  the  persevering  few  who  had  the  spirit  of  prayer,  better 
than  the  one  dimly  lighted  corner  of  the  main  room  to  which 
the  faithful  had  resorted.  And  here,  as  in  every  addition  to  the 
instrument  of  His  service,  (hid  accepted  and  blessed  what  His 
people  wrought.  How  eminently  a  sacred  spot  has  that  session 
room  always  been  !  How  many  seasons  of  spiritual  power  have 
been  experienced  in  it  !  Some  who  have  been  most  helpful  have 
seen  the  light- spiritual  there.  Every  Sabbath  morning  the  Session 
and  others  met  there  for  prayer.  "  There  the  young  men  com- 
menced their  prayer  meeting,"  says  Dr.  Lea,  "  and  laid  their 
plans  for  the  formation  of  the  Third  Church.  There  the  AYestern 
Theological  Seminary  first  convened.  It  contained  the  library 
and  the  first  class,  ami  there,  more  than  anywhere  else,  was 
formed  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society."  [Dr.  L.'s 
paper,  read  July  4th,  1880,  Communion  season.] 

For  help  out  of  all  difficulties,  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  was 
first  of  all  relied  upon.  Faithful  and  affectionate  preaching  and 
earnest  pastoral  work  wrought  these  changes  and  others. 

The  revival  of  1822  followed.  The  backslidden  were  reclaimed, 
the  hands  of  the  constant  strengthened,  and  the  attention  of 
the  worldly  attracted.  Not  lotteries  this  time,  hut  prayer  meet- 
ings and  spiritual  life  were  sought  unto  as  the  means  of  escape 
from  difficulty.  And  they  were  blessed,  as  always.  The  decided 
stand  against  the  fashionable  follies  of  the  time  that  won  for  Dr. 
Herron  the  then  significant  title,  "Methodist,"  won  also  their 
better  judgment,  and  finally  their  help.  The  impetus  of  the 
Sabbath  School  movement  had  already  begun  to  he  felt.  Dr. 
Herron  and  the  pious  Joseph  Patterson  formed  the  Sabbath 
School  Association  of  Pittsburgh  in  1817,  and  in  the  First  Church, 
for  itself,  in  1825,  and  thus  kept  the  First  Church  true  to  its 
work  when  others  tired  of  it.  So  that  in  1*32  the  maximum 
interest  reached  recorded  12  schools  and  1,222  scholars.  A  special 
building  for  this  purpose,  first  of  its  kind   in  all   the   region,  was 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  51 

erected  in  1826,  (cost  $700.)     The  blessing  of  God  continued  on 

the  church  which  cared  for  its  own  and  other  children.  (Sabbath 
School  Association  endured  until  '52.)  The  Third  Presbyterian 
Church  was  formed  in  1833,  with  full  consent  and  approval  of 
the  First,  and  some  .of  the  choicest  material  of  the  First  entered 
the  enterprise,  a  few  of  whom  have  survived  to  celebrate  its 
semi-centennial  in  the  midst  of  prosperity  and  promise. 

But  all  that  had  gone  before  could  not  so  have  encouraged  the 
heart  of  the  indomitable  and  faithful  pastor  as  did  the  revival  of 
1*27.  Some  are  vet  living  who  passed  through  its  scenes.  The 
church,  nay,  the  town  was  never  the  same  afterwards.  It  was  the 
final  evidence  that  the  grace  of  God  and  His  gospel  could  conquer 
anywhere.  Here  is  the  description  of  one  eye  witness,  ( in  addition 
to  which  you  are  referred  to'Dr.  Paxton's  Memorial  Sermons, pp.  58 
-64,  and  to  Dr.  Lea's  Communion  paper  in  the  Appendix.)  Mr. 
Daniel  Bushnell  writes:  "After  the  lecture  room  was  built  the 
prayer  meetings  were  better  attended,  but  I  did  not  know  much 
about  them  until  the  winter  of  1827,  when  a  great  revival  among 
God's  people  was  manifest,  and  many  conversions  to  God  re- 
sulted. I  have  been  informed  that  the  revival  was  the  result  of 
the  earnest  preaching  of  Dr.  Herron  on  the  importance  of  more 
consecration  of  God's  people  and  the  importance  of  special  effort 
of  Christians  to  benefit  the  souls  of  sinners  around  them.  The 
Dr.  called  his  Session  together,  told  them  that  he  saw  signs  of 
encouragement  in  the  congregation,  and  proposed  special  meet- 
ings for  prayer.  The  effort  was  made  and  meetings  appointed  in 
various  parts  of  the  city:  God's  blessing  followed  the  effort  and 
the  result  was  that  all  the  churches  were  revived  more  or  less, 
and  great  numbers  were  converted  to  God.  At  the  communion 
in  February,  1828,  about  fifty  persons,  old  and  young,  united 
with  the  First  Church,  and  about  the  same  number  on  the  next 
communion.  The  result  of  that  revival  remains  to  this  day.  The 
tone  of  piety  was  greatly  elevated;  Christians  began  to  realize 
that  they  individually  had  something  to  do  in  advancing  the 
cause  of  Christ,  and  took  hold  of  the  work  at  once.  Sabbath 
Schools  gained  a  new  impulse.  Mission  work  was  commenced  in 
destitute  parts  of  the  city,  and  all  religious  efforts  were  greatly 
promoted.  Meetings  were  held  in  the  lecture  room  every  night, 
and  were  well  attended,  though  it  rained  almost  incessantly  all 
that   winter.     The   Dr.   was   well    supported  by    his  ministering 


•r)2  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


brethren  from  the  surrounding  country,  and  many  of  them  ob- 
tained such  refreshing  from  the  influence  of  these  meetings  that 
they  were  able  to  communicate  to  their  own  churches,  and  thus 
the  leaven  spread." 

After  1827  spiritual  success  was  assured.  Then  the  church 
learned  where  its  true  strength  laid.  Then  it  gained  the  power  of 
despising  circumstances  and  inconveniences  in  order  to  do  good. 
"Very  dark  nights"  and  "very  deep  mud"  meant  nothing  as  ob- 
stacles. The  "wet  winter"  was  a  winter  of  power.  All  testimonies 
bear  witness  to  the  vigorous  spring  forward  in  all  earnest  Chris- 
tian living  and  working  which  followed  and  proved  the  genuine- 
ness of  this  revival. 

Among  the  results  came  that  large  piece  of  work,  the  desire  to 
accomplish  which  was  born  of  the  missionary  spirit,  and  which 
was  to  fill  so  large  a  space  in  the  spiritual  history  of  our  com- 
munity and  of  our  country  and  beyond.  Early  deliverances  of  the 
Synod  lamented  the  distance  of  young  men  from  Princeton,  and 
earnestly  determined  were  the  men  of  the  West  to  educate  their 
own  sons  for  the  ministry  on  their  own  soil.  Dr.  McMillan  had 
been  appointed  professor  of  theology  at  Jefferson  College,  but 
something  larger  was  necessary  now.  Dr.  Herron's  address  ami 
casting  vote  secured  the  Seminary,  but  what  a  burden  came  with 
it  for  him!  Nobly  was  it  borne.  In  the  long  train  of  years  noth- 
ing better  illustrates  the  staunch  character  of  both  pastor  and 
people  than  the  filially  successful  struggle  to  maintain  our  beloved. 
Seminary.  Nobly  were  they  assisted  by  others,  as  for  example  by 
Mr.  Graham,  of  Beulah,  who  rode  over  his  whole  country  side 
collecting  funds  and  gave  $50  himself  out  of  a  salary  of  $700  ;  and 
as  by  Richard  Lea's  agency,  of  which  our  Michael  Allen  paid  all 
the  expenses;  but  Dr.  Brownson  has  well  written  that  there  were 
long,  long  years  when  any  faltering  on  Dr.  Herron's  part  would 
have  been  "  fatal."  The  education  of  "  poor  but  pious  youth" 
was  one  of  the  passions  of  his  life,  and  he  knew  that  a  populous 
centre  was  the  place  to  bring  them  to  for  a  proper  training  in 
Christian  work.  And  thoroughly  has  the  result  vindicated  the 
wisdom  of  his  struggles.  What  multitudes  of  souls  in  our  own 
country  and  in  heathen  lands  have  reason  to  bless  God  for 
the  zeal  and  prudence  and  persistence  which  built  up  this  school 
of  the  prophets ! 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  53 


Dr.  Herron  early  realized,  with  others,  the  power  of  the  press. 
Glowing  resolutions  were  passed  by  the  Synod  concerning  a 
religious  periodical  in  October,  1821,  and  Rev.  John  Anderson 
was  chosen  editor.  Dr.  Herron  was  one  of  the  committee  to 
"assist  Mr.  Anderson  by  purchasing  material,  and  to  procure  an 
editor  if  Mr.  Anderson  shall  decline."  The  "Recorder,"  and  another 
"Missionary  Journal"  were  valuable  publications,  as  well  as 
"The  Preacher."  [Pains  should  be  taken  to  secure  full  sets  of 
them  for  the  church  archives.] 

In  1823  the  church   numbered 216 

In  1824  the  church  numbered 1!U 

In  1825  the  church  numbered 219 

In  1826  the  church   numbered 230 

In  1827  the  church  numbered 262 

This  last  year  the  contribution  to  Missions  reached  $354. 

In  1828  the  church  reported,  I  revival,  !»•">  added  i :;i!> 

In  1829  the  church  reported 330 

In  1830  the  church  reported 359 

At  this  time  a  number  of  members,  Mrs.  John  Grubbs,  Stephen 
Straight,  John  Patterson  and  wife,  Mary  Anderson,  Isabella 
Stewart,  Mr.  Irwin  and  Mr.  Semple,  were  granted  letters  in  a 
body  to  form  the  First  Church  of  Allegheny  City.  <  Jthers  went 
also,  among  them  the  useful  Elder  John  Hannen  (who  was  long 
known  as  "the  beloved  disciple "  for  his  gentle  manners  and 
devoted  life.) 

About  this  time  (1828)  began  the  settlement  of  the  principles  of 
denominational  action  in  the  carrying  forward  of  the  evangelizing 
work  of  the  church.  Union  had  been  attempted,  but  friction 
resulted,  and  it  was  believed  that  much  more  could  be  accom- 
plished if  each  branch  of  the  church  of  Christ  were  thoroughly 
organized  to  do  its  own  work.  The  first  point  which  came  up  for 
decision  concerned  education.  In  October,  1828,  the  Synod's 
resolution  about  theological  education,  took  ground  looking  away 
from  the  "American  Education  Society."  Better  work  could  be 
done  for  the  Seminary,  as  well  as  through  it,  if  the  church  would 
work  by  its  own  instrumentalities.  A  "Society  of  Education" 
was  formed,  auxiliary  to  the  "Board"  of  Education,  (and  Dr. 
Herron,  by  the  way,  was  a  member  of  the  committee  which 
drafted  the  Constitution  of  that  Board.)     Funds  were  then  con- 


54  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


tributed  in  obedience  to  that  decision,  which  are  blessing  the 
church  and  the  world  of  to-day  with  their  product. 

Simultaneously  came  the  similar  decision  concerning  church 
work  in  Missions.  Had  this  region  dune  nothing  else  for  our 
denomination  as  a  whole,  its  early  and  firm  enunciation  of  this 
principle  (now  universally  adopted, but  then  ccntroverted)  would 
entitle  it  to  everlasting  remembrance.  The  principle  was  asserted 
in    this   same  Synod   of   1828 — carried    further  in   1829,    and    in 

1830  ;  and  finally  reached  organization  in  1831.  How  full,  and 
large,  and  clear  the  utterance  was!  The  swing  of  the  diction 
marks  it,  I  think,  as  Dr.  Swift's. 

At  that  same  Synod,  (1828,  convened  in  this  church,)  a  new- 
hold  was  taken  on  the  press.  "The  Spectator"  was  to  receive  the 
Rev.  H.  Jennings  as  editor.  Drs.  Swift  and  Hoge  were  a  com- 
mittee to  plead  for  it  by  an  address  to  the  public. 

Presbyterianism  in  its  citadel,  viz.:  its  eldership,  was  guarded 
by  resolutions  denying  the  privilege  of  voting  in  ecclesiastical 
bodies  to  mere  "  committee  men,"  from  congregational  churches. 
It  was,  in  many  regards,  the  greatest  deliberative  meeting  ever 
held  in  this  church.  Temperance  was  commended  and  organiza- 
tion counseled.  Sabbath  Union  and  Sunday  School  Union  were 
endorsed.  Revivals  were  prayed  for  and  expected,  and  special 
Christian  work  of  all  kinds  commended.  The  enthusiasm  of  the 
West  began  to  tell  upon  the  East,  and  became  visible  in  the 
General  Assembly.  It  was  in  answer  to  a  call  in  the  latter  body, 
that  a  group  of  young  and  earnest  ministers,  among  whom  were 
Dr.  Cowan's  father  and  my  Father,  came  West  in  1829.  Ah  ! 
when  the  church  arises  she  shines.  It  is  inaction  she  has  to  fear 
far  more  than  any  external  foes. 

In  1831  the  church  numbered  389.  Now  was  felt  the  stir 
which  increased  to  separation  of  the  denomination.  Subscription 
ex  annuo  had  been  required  in  1826,  by  action  of  Synod.  A  book 
was   ordered  to  be  subscribed.     "  I,  A.  R.,  do   receive,"  etc.     In 

1831  the  beginnings  of  the  conflict  became  visible,  both  as  to 
subscription  and  the  eldership  versus,  committee  men.  Suffice  it  to 
say  that  the  prevision  of  the  leaders  here  has  been  justified  by 
the  adoption  of  their  principles  by  the  entire  denomination. 
Immediate  church  work  went  on.  Help  was  appealed  for  in 
behalf  of  the  Theological  Seminary  furnishment  ;  and  it  was 
stated  that  "considerable  additions  were  probable,  and  their  hoard 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  •)•) 

would  be  reduced  to  seventy-five  cents  a  week,  provided  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  rooms  in  the  Seminary  building'  were  furnished 
for  their  reception."  "Pious  music  teachers"  were  sought,  and 
the  growth  of  Sabbath  Schools  noticed. 

Larger  feelings  about  the  great  Western  Valley  began  now  to 
show  themselves.  Pittsburgh  is  pronounced  the  "commercial 
centre  of  more  than  8,000  miles  of  steamboat  navigation.  God, 
in  His  providence,  seems  almost  to  have  annihilated  distance." 
"  Gigantic  influence "  of  this  point  seems  sure  to  them.  There 
was  an  amazing  increase  of  population,  and  more  thousands  were 
expected.  The  Synod  says  :  "The  member  of  this  Synod  is  still 
living,  who  first  sounded  the  silver  trumpet  of  the  gospel,  and 
broke  the  first  loaf  of  the  bread  of  life  (to  a  handful  convened  in  a 
log  barn)  wed  of  the  Ohio!  Population  has  more  than  doubled 
every  ten  years.  At  this  rate  there  will  be  a  population  west  of  the 
Allegheny  Mountains,  in  twenty-five  years,  of  20,000,000  ! !  Can 
we  close  our  eyes?  Brethren,  keep  the  sacred  fire  ever  burning 
upon  our  own  altars,  and  send  down  this  immense  valley  one  thou- 
sand torch  bearers."  Besides  this,  the  African  Missionaries  were 
"about  to  embark," in  1832,  and  were  commended  to  the  prayers 
of  the  church.  The  zeal  and  faith  of  our  forefathers  attacked 
the  foreign  missionary  world  at  its  darkest  point.  They  were  of 
heroic  faith.  The  greater  the  difficulties  the  more  the  enterprise 
appeared  to  be  of  God. 

This  large-hearted  general  condition  of  things  was  necessarilv 
accompanied  with  growth  in  this  individual  church.  In  1832 
the  church  numbered  If.29.  Then  it  was  crowned  with  revival, 
(see  Dr.  Paxton's  Memorial,  pp.  64—8, )  and  that  was  crowned 
again  by  planting  a  new  centre  of  light  and  power — the  Third 
Church.  Then  followed  closely  again  the  revival  of  1<S84,  in 
which  the  number  of  conversions  from  the  Sabbath  Schools  was 
larger  than  ever  before.  But  it  was  time  for  trouble  again.  This 
time  it  came  in  connection  with  the  denominational  history.  Of 
the  whole  epoch  of  division,  1885,  '6,  '7,  nothing  need  here  be 
said  beyond  the  record  of  the  fact  that  pleasant  personal  relations 
seem  to  have  been  maintained,  even  though  the  Third  and 
Minersville  Churches  became  attached  to  the  New  School.  The 
whole  discussion  may  have  been  fruitful  of  knowledge  as  to  some 
disputed  doctrines,  and  certainly  was  fruitful  in  exhibiting  the 
principle  of  church  work  in  education  and  evangelization  ;  but  it 


■"><>  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


seems  to  have  been  an   era   unfruitful  of  large  growth.     It  was 
an  evidence   of  good,  sterling   Christian    character,  and    of  the 

presence   of  the    grace  of  God,    that   such     discussions   could   go 
forward  through  many  years  and  leave  no  deeper  marks. 

In  1839  the  Session  appointed  Elder  J.  M.  Snowden  to  prepare 
a  history  of  the  church,  which  is  recorded  in  the  minute  book 
of  the  Session  begun  at  that  time.  It  is  invaluable  now.  There 
was  the  same  early  deficiency  to  complain  of  then  as  now,  and  it 
is  strange  to  us  that  the  Session  should  have  kept  no  records 
before  1818.  Thirty-four  years  of  the  church  lost,  so  far  as  the 
inner  record  of  its  spiritual  life  is  concerned.  There  was  never 
kept  a  record  of  marriages  and  baptisms  ;  but  we  may  repeat 
with  emphasis  now,  (forty-five  years  later,)  what  Judge  Snowden 
then  wrote  :  "Much  ground  is  afforded  for  confidence,  gratitude 
and  praise;  for  goodness  and  mercy  have  followed  the  congrega- 
tion through  many  difficulties." 

During  the  "forties"  little  seems  to  have  occurred  which  de- 
mands special  notice.  In  1847  resolutions  were  passed  and  the 
Session  asked  to  call  the  congregation  to  provide  a  co-pastor  for 
Dr.  Herron,  but  the  movement  failed. 

In  1850,  the  burden,  both  of  the  church  and  of  years,  seemed 
too  much  to  be  borne  by  the  now  venerable  pastor.  That 
meeting  must  have  been  a  solemn  and  tender  one,  in 
which  the  attached  friend  and  faithful  elder,  Harmar  Denny, 
read  his  resolutions  touching  his  pastor's  resignation.  "Resolved, 
in  testimony  of  our  affectionate  regard  for  our  beloved  pastor, 
who  has  spent  an  almost  unprecedented  period  of  labor  and  use- 
fulness in  our  midst,  characterized  by  uniform  harmony,  and 
with  manifold  tokens  of  divine  favor  ;  we  tender  him  a  sense  of 
our  profound  gratitude,  and  assurance  of  our  cordial  esteem  for 
his  ministerial  and  personal  worth,  with  the  cherished  hope  and 
desire  that  in  his  retirement  he  may  realize  the  full  consolations 
of  the  gospel  and  ultimately  the  reward  of  a  zealous  and  faith- 
ful ambassador  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

A  noble  tribute!  Most  affectionate  and  most  sincere.  It  was 
accompanied  with  promise  of  provision  for  his  comfort.  Heaven 
and  the  best  of  earth  seem  to  blend  in  that  scene.  It  is  an 
ideal  spectacle,  assuring  us  that  there  is  nothing  in  this  whole 
world  so  holy,  and  tender,  and  deep,  as  "fellowship  in  the  gospel." 
It    was    the    reward    of    faithfulness    here    and    the    pledge  of 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  57 

approval    above.      The    First  Church  is   an  exceptionally  noble 
people  to  serve  in  the  gospel,  to  live  among  and  to  die  among. 

And  how  richly  fulfilled  was  this  benediction  upon  the  closing 
days  of  this  grand  life.  They  were  serene  and  calm  in  experi- 
ence, and  most  useful  in  preaching,  and  prayer,  and  counsel.  1 
have  related  to  you  formerly  the  history  of  the  revival  of  1851, 
(as  given  me  by  Dr.  Paxtori)  when  Dr.  Herron's  counsel  to 
"  call  an  inquiry-meeting"  seemed  to  be  the  turning  point  to  a 
wonderful  ingathering.  His  soulful  words  of  final  confession  of 
the  sufficiency  and  power  <>f  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  final  ap- 
peal to  "fellow  sinners"  to  be  saved  by  this  only  way  of  salva- 
tion, delivered  as  the  last  sermon  in  the  old  house,  lingers  in 
many  a  heart  and  deserves  to  be  hung  in  illuminated  type  some- 
where on  these  walls.     [See  Appendix.] 

What  a  blessing  was  that  noble  presence  with  the  silver  hair  and 
the  treasured  memories  which  wove  him  into  the  heart  of  every 
household,  as  Sabbath  by  Sabbath  he  occupied  the  great  chair 
beneath  the  pulpit!  It  was  a  life-evening  so  calm,  so  bright,  so 
typically  perfect  that  it  seemed,  like  a  far  northern  sky, 
rather  to  melt  into  heaven's  morning  than  to  die  into  any  darkness. 
Taken  as  a  whole  it  was  a  marked  life  throughout  for  its 
power  of  personal  influence.  It  was  Dr.  Herron's  character  (like 
Washington's  in  the  Revolution)  more  than  his  genius,  to  which 
the  people  came  as  to  a  refuge  and  strength.  Mrs.  General 
Butler  (a  bright  and  accomplished  woman,  but  of  skeptical  mind  ) 
would  invite  Mrs.  Herron  to  her  parties,  but  not  the  Doctor,  sav- 
ing that  he  was  a  "Methodist"  and  an  "enthusiast."  But  when 
a  great  thunder  storm  arose  she  would  come  over  to  Dr. 
Herron's  house.  He  asked,  "Do  you  think  yourself  safer 
here  ?  "  She  answered,  "  Oh,  you  are  a  Methodist,  but  you  are  a 
good  man,  and  if  there  is  any  place  safe  it  will  be  this."  [Mrs. 
Smith's  reminiscences.] 

Thus  let  him  remain  forever  in  the  minds  of  men.  When  the 
community  first  knew  his  supreme  earnestness  and  steadfast  op- 
position to  every  form  of  evil,  it  called  him  an  "  enthusiast," 
but  as  they  saw  the  gospel  he  loved  and  preached  bringing  order 
out  of  confusion,  and  joy  amid  sorrow,  they  began  to  feel  that 
it  was  safe  to  be  where  the  good  man  was.  Dr.  Herron's  personal 
influence  was  illustrated  by  his  remarkable  power  of  enlisting 
help   in  any  work   which  engaged  him,   and    in   setting  men  to 


58  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


work  on  lines  suited  to  their  special  endowments,  as  in  Dr. 
Nevin's  Sabbath  afternoon  lectures  on  "The  Analogies  of 
Religion."  The  Session  of  the  church  recorded  their  gratitude 
for  "the  trials  he  endured,  the  difficulties  he  surmounted,  the  in- 
fluences for  good  he  put  into  operation,  the  controlling  influence 
he  exerted  in  this  whole  community,  and  the  moral  and  spiritual 
reformation  which  he  effected  in  this  church."  [Memorial,  p. 
136.] 

The  dates  of  his  life  are  these.  Born  June  28th,  1774,  near 
Shippensburg,  Pa.,  of  Scotch-Irish  and  pious  parents,  and 
trained  by  them  and  the  times  to  faith  and  manliness.  Dickin- 
son graduate,  May,  1794;  theology  with  Cooper;  licensed  4th 
October,  1797;  toughened  by* severe  journey  West,  1798-9  ; 
kindled  by  great  revivals  in  progress  there  ;  settled  at  Rocky 
Springs,  Pa.,  in  April,  1800,  and  after  eleven  years  of  successful 
pastoral  life  translated  to  Pittsburgh,  First  Church,  thence  to 
heaven,  on  December  6th,  1860.  As  preacher,  careful  in  prepa- 
ration, biblical,  experimental,  and  always  impressive.  As  pastor, 
affectionate,  accessible,  persuasive  and  progressive  in  methods. 
As  presbyter,  a  born  leader  in  Presbytery  and  Synod,  and 
Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  in  1827.  As  president, 
directing  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Western  Theological 
Seminary  from  its  first  meeting  until  his  death.  As  citizen,  de- 
voted to  the  city's  interests,  jealous  of  its  morals,  helpful  in 
extending  its  churches,  founding  the  first  "  Moral  Association," 
and  holding  the  first  Temperance  meetings. 

Dr.  Herron's  piety  was  marked.  It  was  early,  tender,  strong, 
equable  yet  stimulated  by  revivals,  characterized,  no  less  by 
prayer  than  by  active  zeal.  He  was  pre-eminently  a  man  to 
mold  the  times.  "  There  are  but  two  things  in  Pittsburgh,"  was 
once  said,  "  Dr.  Herron  and  the  Devil,  and  the  Doctor  seems  to 
be  getting  the  advantage."  In  personal  majesty  of  presence 
unequaled,  in  influence  commanding  and  magnetic.  Equal  to 
emergencies  in  church  or  city,  with  pronounced  convictions  and 
well  matured  opinions,  sound  judgment  and  warm  sympathies,  of 
remarkable  courage  and  great  practical  wisdom.  When  he  died 
all  mourned  a  father.  Business  and  even  the  Courts  were  sus- 
pended in  his  honor.  Tributes  of  every  description  were  paid 
to  his  worth.     The  tablet  erected  by  a  grateful  people,  in  1874, 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS.  59 


the  centennial  of  his  birth,  "bears  these  closing  words  :    "  Revered 
by  the  church  he  served  and  the  city  he  adorned." 

Dr.  Herron  was  a  true  Moses  to  this  people.  During  his  forty 
years  pastorate  they  were  led  from  an  Egypt  of  bondage  to  debt, 
and  out  of  the  murmurings  of  the  desert  for  some  forbidden  grati- 
fications, to  the  promised  land  of  abundance,  to  become  a  strono- 
and  settled  generation  of  devoted  servants  to  God. 

Let  his  noble  face  and  stature  be  perpetuated  in  picture  and 
description,  let  his  fame  be  preserved  in  anecdote  and  history  and 
storied  tablet,  for  all  these  things  bring  to  mind  is  the  product  of 
that  gospel  he  held  up  to  man  with  the  firm  accents  of  youth 
and  the  tremulous  hands  of  age,  which  he  illustrated  by  his  life 
as  he  proclaimed  it  with  his  lips,  and  which  is  our  only  hope  of 
salvation. 

More  and  more  should  be  done  to  keep  the  rising  generations 
of  this  church  and-of  this  community  thoroughly  familiar  with 
this  nobly  complete  type  of  Christian  manliness,  unreserved  per- 
sonal consecration,  indomitable  will  and  unflinching  perseverance 
and  undaunted  faith,  so  that  they  may  bravely  pioneer  in  the 
paths  of  moral  struggles  as  he  did,  and  loyally  live  for  and  peace- 
fully die  in  the  Christ  he  loved.  So  it  should  be  that  not  only 
those  of  our  past  who  lie  around  him  in  the  cemetery  now,  but 
the  hundreds  of  others  who  will  be  buried  there,  should  be 
thought  of  as  one  family,  and  that  when  the  resurrection  morning 
comes,  he  should  rise  with  them  to  commend  them  (mayhap, 
also,  the  pastors  who  have  followed  him  and  have  sought  to 
drink  into  his  spirit)  to  Christ  the  Lord,  saying,  "Here  am  land 
the  children  whom  thou  hast  given  me." 

When  the  change  became  necessary  in  1850,  one  was  soon 
found  and  called  with  perfect  unanimity,  whom  the  ex-pastor  re- 
ceived with  as  much  esteem  and  trust  as  the  congregation  exhib- 
ited of  enthusiasm  and  admiration.  As  he  "received  him  with 
open  arms,"  so  for  the  remaining  ten  years  of  his  life  Dr.  Her- 
ron "cherished"  his  successor  "with  the  magnanimity  of  his  great 
Christian  heart  and  the  tenderness  of  a  parental  affection."  [Me- 
morial, p.  72.]  The  training  and  impulses  of  Dr.  William  M. 
Paxton  when  he  came  hither  after  two  years  pastorate  at  Green- 
castle,  Pa.,  were  such  as  to  make  all  his  abilities  tributary  to 
carrying  the  church  forward  in  the  direction  now  at  last  so 
firmly  taken.     It  was  but  a  short  interval  until  the  new  pastor 


(i()  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


was  on  the  field  (early  in  1851,)  and  but  another  short  interval 
until  the  evident  blessing  of  God  in  the  edification  of  the  older 
and  the  attraction  of  the  younger  began  to  be  visible,  anddmt 
another  short  interval  until  the  crowning  blessing  came  in  a  gra- 
cious, protracted  and  productive  revival.  The  crisis  of  this 
fourth  pastorate  of  our  century  was  passed  when  this  revival 
came,  as  that  of  the  third  was  when  the  revival  of  1827  came. 
There  are  those,  and  many  of  them,  still  living  among  us,  who  can 
bear  witness  to  the  deep  and  tender  solemnity  of  that  refreshing 
season.  Home  date  the  beginning  of  their  spiritual  life  from  that 
Sunday  afternoon  inquiry-meeting  out  of  which  most  of  the  sev- 
enty-five present  went  savingly  impressed.  It  was  a  time  of 
power  when  Dr.  Herron  was  here  to  counsel,  and  Dr.  Paxton  to 
preach,  and  such  men  as  Beer  and  Bailey  and  Lorenz  and  Laugh- 
lin  and  Spencer  and  McCord  and  others  to  pray,  to  plan,  and  to 
work. 

The  rapidly  increasing  congregations,  combined  with  the  con- 
dition of  city  prosperity  and  the  recognized  pecuniary  ability  of 
the  church,  together  with  the  condition  of  the  1804  building, 
pointed  to  a  new  church  edifice.  It  was  undertaken  in  1852,  and 
finished  in  1853,  was  one  of  the  handsomest  of  its  time,  and  has 
stimulated  many  others  of  like  grade.  From  '53  to  '57  there  was 
steady  growth,  and  then  came  another  wave  of  spiritual  interest. 
Like  '27,  '32  and  '51,  it  was  deep  and  strong  in  its  influence. 
The  revival  immediately  preceding  had  originated,  none  knew 
how,  within  the  congregation  itself  ;  this  one  grew  out  of  the  Syn- 
odical  Convention  of  December,  1857,  [see  Dr.  Paxton's  address,] 
and  grew  in  common  with  the  remarkable  work  of  '57  and  '58,  the 
marks  of  which  are  yet  visible  on  the  whole  Christian  surface  of 
the  world.  This  church  was  thoroughly  aroused.  Young  men's 
activities  began  then  as  union  meetings  began.  Mission  schools 
were  now  also  more  largely  developed.  The  communions  and 
confession  scenes  of  that  period  were  marked  seasons  of  solemnity 
and  consecration. 

Scarcely  had  the  enlarged  work  consequent  upon  this  "time  of 
harvest"  been  well  compassed  when  the  pastor  was  called  to  a 
work  requiring  much  labor  and  study  on  his  part,  and  some  sacri- 
fice on  the  part  of  the  congregation,  but  one  to  which  he  was  so 
plainly  designated  by  special  gifts  that  all  acquiesced  in  his  de- 
cision to  undertake  it.     Here  began  his  teaching  the  Science  of 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  61 


Homiletics  in  the  Western  Theological  Seminary,  which  was  con- 
tinued until  the  termination  of  his  pastorate  and  for  several  years 
afterwards.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  what  he  could  do  so  sig- 
nally well  he  could  teach  with  equal  success,  and  especially  as 
the  church  has  just  called  him  from  the  New  York  pastorate  of 
multiplied  years  and  affections  and  its  accompanying  responsibili- 
ties in  denominational  work  ;  to  exercise  the  same  office  again  in 
her  most  venerable  school  for  the  ministry. 

Scarcely  had  this  work  been  well  begun  when  the  hot  breath 
of  war  was  felt  in  the  air,  and  the  duties  and  anxieties  of  that 
period  came  alike  upon  pastor  and  people.  And  how  admirably 
both  did  the  duties  and  bore  the  anxieties  !  The  pulpit  gave  no 
uncertain  sound,  and  its  prayers  were  incessant,  while  the  whole 
church  was  ever  ready  with  moral  influence,  with  money,  with 
men  at  the  front  and  with  faithful  women,  not  a  few,  in  all  the 
varied  labors  by  which  they  sustained  the  army  in  the  held. 
The  great  "  Sanitary  Association"  meeting  held  in  this  church 
will  never  be  forgotten. 

During  this  whole  term  the  unity  of  feeling  between  pastor 
and  people  was  never  for  a  moment  impaired.  The  one  was 
sympathetic  in  affliction,  clear  in  counseling  inquirers,  efficient 
in  discipline,  unrivaled  in  the  pulpit;  the  other  satisfied,  united, 
hearty  and  active.  There  was  great  development  in  the  useful- 
ness of  the  Session  during  this  period,  and  many  of  the  names 
which  will  be  longest  remembered  for  faithfulness  and  devotion, 
were  identified  with  it.  The  old  choral  choir,  under  the  spirited 
and  spiritual  guidance  of  Mr.  Wright,  continued  throughout, 
and  many  of  its  voices  are  gratefully  remembered.  The  church, 
throughout  this  period,  at  least  after  1800,  maintained  so  strong 
a  protest  against  sinful  amusements  that  a  pledge  to  abstain 
from  opera,  theatre,  circus  and  cards,  was  made  a  term  of  com- 
munion for  all  who  made  confession  of  their  faith.  The  be- 
nevolence of  the  church  made  rapid  increase,  and  its  whole  life 
was  strong,  glowing,  and  often  intense.  The  years  of  this  pas- 
torate were  years  of  the  "right  hand  of  the  Most  High."  They 
were  enviable  years  of  prosperity  in  external  and  internal  things. 
Even  the  city  extension  and  prosperity  seemed  to  increase  the 
time  of  favor.  The  church  life  deepened  as  it  strengthened, 
and  one  must  go  far  to  find  a  record  in  which  there  is  so  much 
cause  for  rejoicing,  and  so  little  left  to  desire,  as  in  the  history' 


62  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 

of  the  First  Church  from  1850  to  1865.  In  June  of  that  year 
(just  after  an  important  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly  in 
this  building)  the  pastor  was  constrained  to  bring  these  pleasant 
and  fruitful  relations  to  an  end,  on  account  of  considerations  of 
health,  (his  own  and  that  of  his  son.)  Reluctantly  the  con- 
gregation acquiesced  in  what  the  pastor  deemed  imperative,  and 
you  have  appeared  to  be  receiving  something  of  compensation 
for  this  painful  separation,  in  the  continued  life  and  usefulness 
elsewhere  of  the  pastor  to  whom  you  were  devoted,  in  his  pres- 
ence and  words  of  instruction  and  cheer  on  this  occasion  and  in 
having  been  permitted  recently  to  hear,  from  this  pulpit,  (before 
which  he  was  baptized)  the  son  for  whose  health's  sake,  in  part, 
the  ties  of  the  past  were  sundered,  and  through  whose  life  there 
is  such  good  hope  of  continuing  the  father's  usefulness.  It  has 
been  your  frequent  privilege  since  1865  to  welcome  with  most 
attentive  hearing,  the  ministrations  of  Dr.  Herron's  successor  and 
friend,  as  it  has  mine  to  know  and  acknowledge  his  constant 
kindness  and  support,  so  that  in  a  way  rather  unusual  there  lias 
been  a  continuance  of  the  influences,  feelings  and  traditions  which 
have  permeated  the  church  life,  from  1811  onward. 

When  your  late  pastor  was  called,  in  December,  1865,  and  be- 
gan his  work  with  January,  1866,  there  was  little  to  do  but 
build  on  foundations  already  firmly  laid.  However,  with  the 
ever  increasing  volume  of  the  city  population,  and  the  change 
in  the  character  of  that  part  of  it  surrounding  the  church,  (now 
distinctly  considered  as  located  in  the  "old"  part  of  the  city.) 
came  the  evident  demand  for  additional  aggressive  work  for 
different  classes.  Attractive  suburbs  were  calling  away  many 
who  had  been  active  and  faithful  in  their  church  relations,  and 
those  moving  to  the  city  from  elsewhere  did  not  choose  to  reside 
near  the  old  centre.  The  indication  of  Providence  was  plain, 
and  the  church  addressed  itself  by  degrees  to  this  work  (at  once 
a  new  and  an  old  one.)  Development  in  this  direction  was 
aided  by  the  reinstallation  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, which  took  place  in  this  church  in  December,  1866,  by 
the  Christian  Conventions  and  the  inspiring  zeal  of  Mr.  Moody, 
and  by  the  re-formation  of  the  Young  Men's  Union  in  our  own 
church.  The  grand  impulse  of  lay-evangelization  was  felt 
among  us,  and  has  been  responded  to  in  various  directions  ever 
since.     The  work  of    City   Missions  began   in   1867,   with    the 


HISTORICAL    8EKMONS.  G3 


labors  of  the  Rev.  S.  C.  Faris,  a  faithful  and  devoted  man. 
Support  was  arranged  by  the  gift  of  one  thousand  dollars  per 
annum  by  Mrs.  E.  F.  Denny,  and  a  contribution  of  $300  for 
house  rent  from  several  gentlemen.  Miss  Ellen  McNutt  was 
employed  about  the  same  time  for  a  portion  of  each  day,  and 
supported  by  private  subscription.  Others  have  aided  in  the 
work  from  time  to  time.  Mr.  E.  McGinnis,  Deacon  Newell, 
Miss  Mary  Smith,  Mrs.  Anna  Logan,  and  now  Mr.  John  Thomp- 
son have  carried  it  forward  with  mingled  zeal  and  discretion.  Each 
has  contributed  something  of  peculiar  influence  and  wisdom, 
and  spiritual  power,  to  this  quiet  but  noble  and  successful  work. 
There  was  also  co-operation,  at  one  time,  with  the  Woman's 
Christian  Association  of  the  city,  a  district  being  assigned  us, 
and  much  faithful  volunteer  work  being  done  in  it.  The  result 
has  fully  justified  all  the  expenditure  of  time  and  means. 
There  are  some  in  the  church  to-day,  as  in  the  Sabbath  School, 
and  some  in  other  churches,  and  some  in  the  church  above,  who 
would  never  have  been  drawn  within  the  power  of  the  gospel  by 
any  other  means. 

In  close  connection  with  this  going  out  to  "compel  them  to 
come  in,"  has  progressed  the  work  of  enlarging  our  Sabbath 
School.  The  church  discovered  that  a  small  home  school  was 
discouraging  even  the  attendance  of  church  families,  and  that 
mission  schools  stitched  to  the  church  by  the  slender  thread  of 
pecuniary  support,  failed  to  gather  into  any  fold  even  those  who 
were  led  into  the  "  way  of  life"  by  the  few  persevering  workers 
in  them.  Enlargement  being  determined  upon,  the  recruiting 
by  diligent  visiting  was  begun,  the  consolidation  of  mission 
schools  followed,  the  senior  department  was  organized  and  after- 
noon sessions  became  the  rule.  The  need  of  a  new  building  was 
felt,  but  the  building  was  postponed.  The  church  wrought  earn- 
estly to  regain  the  position  of  1<S32,  in  which  year  there  had  been 
more  than  1,200  scholars  under  her  care  in  Sabbath  Schools. 

The  same  missionary  spirit  led  to  perfecting  the  inner  organi- 
zation of  the  church.  The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
was  formed  in  1871,  and  $500  collected  by  it  the  first  year.  Other 
agencies  were  instituted  in  their  turn,  chief  among  them  the 
Board  of  Deacons,  (the  first  in  the  history  of  the  church,)  which 
has  proven  every  way  helpful  and  efficient.  Indeed,  there  seems 
little  to  desire  as  to  methods  of  Christian  work.     The  church  is 


64  HISTORICAL    8ERMONS. 


prepared  for  them  all,  and  if  every  member  were  as  thoroughly 
vitalized  as  the  church  is  organized,  success  would  be  assured  in 
a  larger  measure  than  ever  yet  attained.  The  work  of  the  Ses- 
sion has  continued  unremitting  and  fruitful  throughout.  The 
pecuniary  obligations  of  the  church  have  been  fully  met  and  its 
benevolence  has  increased.  In  1866-67,  a  debt  of  $5,000  was 
paid,  and  expensive  repairs  to  the  church  property,  without  and 
within,  (especially  in  1868  and  lN71)have  been  promptly  pro- 
vided for.  The  new  organ  came  in  1869,  and  has  been  since 
improved  at  considerable  outlay.  A  handsome  parsonage  was 
purchased  in  1876-9,  at  the  cost  of  $18,000,  and  in  1880-81,  the 
long  desired  Sabbath  School  and  Lecture  Rooms,  with  facilities 
for  Christian  work  of  every  description,  were  erected  at  a  cost 
of  $24,000. 

In  the  general  life  of  the  denomination,  this  period  was  signal- 
ized by  the  re-union  days  of  November,  1869.  The  never-to-be- 
forgotten  scenes  of  enthusiasm  and  hope  will  be  a  cherished  part 
of  the  history  of  this  church  forever.  They  cannot  now  be  de- 
scribed, in  the  general  life  of  the  city,  this  period  is  marked  by 
the  sadly-contrasting  scenes  of  the  riots  of  1877.  On  that  "black 
Sunday"  of  July  we  worshiped  here  and  commended  the  cause 
of  public  justice  to  the  God  of  all  our  rights,  and  the  pulpit 
theme  was  the  "Supremacy  of  Law." 

During  these  years  the  traditional  connection  of  the  First 
Church  and  the  Theological  Seminary  was  maintained  by  your 
contributions,  by  the  Presidency  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  held 
by  one  of  our  most  esteemed  members,  by  your  pastor's  member- 
ship throughout  in  its  Board  of  Directors,  and  by  his  service  for 
two  years  as  Instructor  in  Hebrew.  It  is  likely  to  be  maintained 
in  the  future  by  the  elders  who  represent  you  on  its  Boards, 
and  i.t  is  affectionately  commended  to  your  prayers  and  benefac- 
tions "  throughout  your  generations." 

Within  this  period  the  custom  of  annual  sermons  has  been  in- 
augurated and  observed,  and  this  review  so  steadily  made  ami 
once,  at  the  fifteenth  year,  extended  over  the  whole  previous 
portion  of  the  pastorate,  renders  unnecessary  more  detail  now. 
Along  with  this,  and  both,  I  hope,  will  be  permanent,  we  have 
adopted  the  old  Moravian  custom  of  a  year-text,  I  believe,  upon 
careful  review,  that  some  of  these  year-texts  exercised  a,  consid- 
erable   influence   ami    gave  coloring   to   the  spiritual  life  of  the 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


65 


year.  The  whole  purpose  of  annual  review  and  year-text  com- 
bined was  so  to  remember  our  past  as  rightly  to  build  our  future. 
The  "  heartiness"  of  Hezekiah,  1872-3;  the  "Bible  year,"  (text 
from  Ezra,  1878,)  and  the  year  of  progress—  (text,  "Go  forward,") 
are  instances,  I  think,  all  will  remember. 

The  crisis  of  this  fifth  pastorate  seems  to  have  been  past  with 
the  first  months  of  1867.     Then  came  to  the  church  (as  to  most 
of  the  churches  of  the  city,)  a  season  of  sustained  spiritual  inter- 
est and  activity,  specially  characterized  by  its  result  in  a  large 
ingathering  into  all  the  churches  of  converted  young  men.     A* 
new  impulse  was  felt  to   have  been  secured  and  preparation  for 
the  advanced  work  which  followed  was  thus  made.     The  move- 
ment went  steadily  forward  until,  in  the  review  of  1872,  it  was 
noted  that  now  it  had  been    settled  by   God's  goodness  that  the 
First  Church  was  not  to  become  a  church  of  the  past.     It  was  re- 
corded then  that  our  membership  was  increasing;  that  the  Sab- 
bath School  was  enlarging  ;  that  the  net  gain  of  the  year  (without 
unusual  meetings,)  was  greater  than  ordinary;  that  our  organiza- 
tion was   more   complete,   our   interest  in  the  poor  and   adapta- 
tion to  work    for  them,  was   more  evident ;  that  our   communion 
contained  more  young  people,  and  that  more  work  than  ever  was 
being  undertaken   for  Christ.     The  prophecy  was  then  also  an- 
nounced, which  is  now  fulfilled,  that  it  was  "certain,  with  God's 
blessing,  the  church  will  reach  its  centenary  ( in  twelve  years)  more 
vigorous  than  ever."     As  in  the  review  of  1866 it  was  recognized 
that  the  church  life  was  becoming  more  aggressive  and  more  in- 
terested in  young  men,  and  then  the  blessing  came  in  the  conver- 
sion of  young  men  ;  so  the  next  revival,  in  1<S7(>,  was  character- 
ized especially  by  interest  in   our  Sabbath    School,  and  a   large 
accession  of  the  young  of  both  sexes.     Families  within  and  with- 
out the  church  were  blessed,  ami   the  fruits   yet  remain.     Those 
were  scenes  of  great    tenderness  ami    solemnity  in  the   prayer- 
meetings  after  Sabbath  School  and  in  the  inquiry-meetings.     The 
pastor  had  uttered  the  key  note  in    the  year-text,  "go  forward"; 
the  Session  had  re-echoed  it  in  a  stirring  appeal,  printed  and  sent 
to  every  member  of  the  church  ;  the  Sabbath  School  teachers  felt 
the  -low  of  endeavor,  and  we  were  probably  then  more  nearly  a 
whole  church  at  work  for  Christ  than  ever  before  in  our  history, 
unless  in  1S27.     It  was  emphatically  a  revival  of  the  member- 
ship and  it  was  specially  their  work  that  wn<  blessed,  the  lesson 


66  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 

of  encouragement  in  which  fact  will  never,  I  trust,  he  lost  from 
the  memory. of  the  church. 

There  were  other  scenes  of  interest  which  cannot  now  he  par- 
ticularized [especially  that  one  of  1879,  when  the  faithful  evan- 
gelists, Wishard  and  Johnson,  lahored  with  us,]  and  in  general 
the  additions  to  the  membership  continued.  No  communion,  I 
think,  occurred  without  some  accessions,  and  but  one,  if  I  re- 
member correctly,  without  any  addition  by  confession,  though 
there  were  several  at  which  only  one  came  to  our  Lord's  table 
for  the  first  time.  The  fact  is  to  be  recorded  with  profound  grati- 
tude, that  notwithstanding  our  common  infirmities  and  repeated 
negligence  and  coldness,  the  dear  old  church,  in  spite  .of  all  that 
has  been  untoward  and  difficult,  has  reached  the  century  mile- 
post  of  her  journey  with  enlarged  membership  and  undiminished 
resources  of  every  kind. 

The  termination  of  the  fifth  pastorate  is  too  recent  to  allow — 
so  fresh  are  the  feelings  of  six  months  ago — of  anything  more 
than  the  bare  record  that  it  took  place  in  connection  with  what 
seemed  an  imperative  call  to  a  different  service  for  the  Master, 
which  came,  singularly  enough,  almost  simultaneously  with  the 
similar  call  which  carried  the  fourth  pastor  from  the  pulpit  to  the 
professorial  chair;  and  with  this  record  the  most  grateful  and 
heartfelt  acknowledgments  of  your  abundant  kindness  when  the 
hour  of  separation  came.  May  the  blessing  of  God  descend  upon 
this  church  for  its  unvarying  trust  in,  co-operation  with,  and 
provision  for  its  pastors. 


\8~MaMMi   ^.   ^Qxfoyfc. 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  Hi 


CHARACTERISTICS 


The  history  of  a  hundred  years  would  only  be  baffling  to  in- 
terest by  its  multiplicity  of  detail  and  equally  void  of  spiritual 
profit  were  there  not  distinguishing  characteristics  which  give  unity 
to  details  and  point  spiritual  lessons.  Such  characteristics  are 
sure  to  emerge  in  any  history,  and  the  record  now  before  us 
seems  to  be  more  than  ordinarily  rich  in  them.  They  become 
most  clearly  visible  when  seen  in  vista,  or  when  arranged  as 
similar  beads  may  be  on  a  single  thread.  In  describing  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  church  all  the  scaffolding  is  taken  down  and  the 
building  becomes  visible  from  foundation  to  spire.  There  have 
been  variable  pecuniary  conditions  and  different  currents  of 
popular  estimation  traceable  in  the  history  as  there  have  been 
changes  of  pastors,  and  many  influences  from  without,  and  all 
these  have  their  importance ;  but  now  we  turn  to  look  more 
closely  into  the  products  of  the  church's  life  and  at  its  outworhings 
rather  than  at  its  outward  conditions. 

The  First  Church  has  naturally,  and  by  reason  of  intelligent 
zeal  also,  been  a,  place  of  beginnings.  Influences  have  originated 
here  of  measureless  extent,  and  enduring  institutions  have  been 
born  on  this  spot.  It  was  the  place  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  Synod 
of  Pittsburgh,  in  the  year  1802,  and  we  have  seen  the  grasp  of 
that  body  on  great  questions  and  great  territories.  The  "  Moral 
Association,"  about  1812,  was  formed  here,  for  the  city.  The 
"Sabbath  School  Association"  began  here  in  bSU.  The  first 
temperance  meetings  were  held  here.  The  "Western  University 
was  inaugurated  herein  1819.  The  "Western  Missionary  So- 
ciety" was  formed  here  in  1802  by  the  Synod,  and  the  "Western 
Foreign  Missionary  Society"  had  its  beginnings  here  in  1831,  in 


<>'s  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


the  counsels  of  the  little  Session  room  between  Swift  and  Herron 
and  like-minded  ones  ;  the  first  to  do  faithful  work  for  our  own  land 
for  twenty-seven  years  and  be  merged  into  the  Assembly's  Board 
of  Missions,  with  the  full  consent  of  its  originators  ;  and  the  second 
to  present  and  represent  the  great  principle  of  church  action  in  the 
conversion  of  the  world,  until  it  became  triumphant  in  1837,  and 
the  "  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society"  became,  "  as  it  was 
always  intended  it  should  become,"  (said  Dr.  Swift,)  "the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  the  United  States  of  America."  Here  the  first  mission- 
aries were  commissioned,  and  Pinney  lived  to  speak  from  the  same 
pulpit  from  which  fifty  years  before  he  was  sent  to  Africa.  The 
Western  Theological  Seminary  had  its  beginnings  here  likewise, 
(1825-7,)  and  its  first  classes  recited  here.  The  General  Assem- 
bly met  in  the  First  Church  at  its  first  venture  West  of  the 
Mountains,  in  1835 — again  met  therein  1836,  then  in  bS"4H,  then 
in  1865,  then  gave  it  (with  the  Third  Church)  the  hallowed  asso- 
ciations of  re-union,  with  its  communion  in  1869,  and  met  here 
again — the  first  meeting  in  the  new  series  of  Assemblies  which 
pay  their  own  expenses — in  1878  ;  and  it  was  made  the  place  of 
the  first  effective  gathering  of  Western  Presbyterianism's  precious 
memories  by  the  Memorial  Convention  of  1875,  with  its  admirable 
resultant  volume.  Some  of  these  ten  beginnings  will  have  no 
endings. 

"2.  A  second  characteristic  is,  that  the  First  Church  has  always 
been  a  church  of  tJie people. 

It  was  apparently  suggested  by  the  people,  (see  the  statement 
of  John  Wilkins'  diary,)  and  came  to  the  Presbytery  as  a  child 
desiring  motherly  care.  Indeed  the  need  of  the  church  came  to 
be  felt,  because  the  need  of  the  people  was  so  evident.  It  was 
altogether  a  noble  origin. 

Moreover,  our  church  history  emphasizes  the  same  character- 
istic in  its  proving  to  be  the  place  of  combination  for  city  and 
country  forces.  At  the  very  first  this  did  not  exist.  Pittsburgh 
as  a  military  point,  was  the  key  to  the  surrounding  country. 
When  in  the  enemy's  hands  the  peojde  fled  from  the  frontier — 
when  in  rightful  possession  they  returned  to  their  homes.  But 
communication  with  the  city  seemed  to  be  small,  (there  was  little 
at  first,  even  of  trade,)  and  religiously  the  neglect  seems  to  have 
been    perfect.       McMillan   either   could    not    or    would    not  find 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  (">9 


hearers  there  (though  preaching  once  in  1775,)  while  others 
seemed  to  stay  away  as  though  afraid  of  "ill-treatment."  [Wil- 
kins.]  Thus  the  beginnings  were  feeble  and  thus  misunderstand- 
ing could  easily  arise  between  the  country  Presbytery  and  the 
first  city  ministry.  But  Providence  provided  the  link  in  sending 
Dr.  Herron  to  preach  beside  McMillan  in  the  revival  of  1798-9, 
and  bringing  him  years  afterward  to  the  city  church.  Then  the 
immigration  from  country  to  city  began  to  find  the  First  Church 
and  it  began  to  find  the  immigrants.  Ever  since  it  has  been  fed 
and  strengthened  by  these  streams  from  without.  Many  are  the 
illustrative  incidents  which  might  be  but  cannot  now  be  given. 

And  in  the  same  direction  it  is  to  be  noted  that  this  has  ever 
been  a  church  for  all  classes  and  conditions  within  the  city  itself. 
The  people  were  always  welcome  here.  Very  cruel  and  hindering 
misapprehensions  have  been  extant  in  later  years  on  this  point, 
but  whoever  will  take  pains  to  investigate  will  find  the  truth  to 
be  as  I  state  it.  The  church  has  always  contained  many  who  had 
no  worldly  possessions  to  tempt  them  to  buy  heaven  with  contri- 
butions and  obtain  dispensations  from  conscience  for  easy  com- 
pliance with  the  fashions  and  follies  of  the  times.  Undoubtedly, 
for  a  church  in  a  populous  manufacturing  centre,  it  has  had  far  too 
few  laboring  men  and  mechanics  in  it,  but  this  has  never  been 
more  than  a  sin  of  omission.  That  there  have  been  and  are  in  it 
so  many  that  are  poor  in  possessions  and  rich  in  faith,  is  an  evi- 
dence that  the  way  has  always  been  frankly  open  for  all  who 
wished  to  hear  and  obey  the  gospel,  to  enjoy  its  services  and  make 
part  of  its  membership.  The  foundation  for  upbuilding  largely 
here  from  all  classes,  and  for  all  classes,  is  found  in  the  whole 
history  of  the  church.  Its  way  among  men  can  never  be  blocked 
but  by  forgetfulness  of  its  record,  added  to  criminal  departure 
from  the  spirit  of  Christ  its  Master. 

3.  A  third  characteristic,  is  the  engagement  of  the  church  in 
all  the  organized  Christian  work  of  the  community. 

It  began  very  early  in  the  Pittsburgh  "  Moral  Society,"  the 
admirable  " proclamation "  of  which  deserves  now  to  be  repub- 
lished. It  was  formed  in  1809,  and  Ebenezer  Denny  was  its 
President.  [See  McKnight's  Sabbath  School  History,  p.  19.] 
This  care  for  the  morality  of  the  community  was  further  evinced 
in  an  early  share  in  the  movement  for  temperance.  The  first 
meetings  were  held  here,  and  they  were  needed  even  within  the 


church  ;  for  at  the  point  of  the  beginning  of  our  Sessional  records, 
(1818,)  there  are  three  cases  of  discipline  for  intoxication  within 
one  year.  In  1816  it  was  resolved  by  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh, 
that  ardent  spirits  ought  never  to  be  used,  except  as  a  medicine 
— that  the  habitual  use  of  ardent  spirits  at  "  entertainments  and 
social  visits,"  is  "one  of  the  fashions  of  the  world  to  which 
Christians  ought  not  to  conform,"  and  is  "  training  up  thousands 
for  poverty,  disgrace,  the  prison,  the  gallows  and  eternal  misery." 
[Min.  p.  121.]  This  was  heartily  reiterated  when  the  Synod 
sat  in  this  church  in  1817.  Ah  !  how  much  would  Pittsburgh  have 
saved  if  it  had  heeded  that  voice  of  warning!  There  is  immense 
propriety  in  the  First  Church  being  decidedly  given  to  the  tem- 
perance reform.  Not  only  does  the  early  stand  of  effort  and 
discipline  beckon  its  members  in  this  direction,  but  the  record  of 
suffering  through  the  drink  during  the  church's  century,  is  fearful 
to  contemplate.  There  are  spots  on  the  church's  reputation  which 
it  has  left.  There  are  scars  on  wounded  hearts  that  are  painful 
yet,  and  there  have  been  scores  of  them  on  hearts  that  nothing 
could  soothe  but  the  rest  of  heaven,  into  which  they  have  now 
passed.  The  heaviest  burdens,  the  most  crushing  sorrows  of  the 
century,  have  been  due  to  intoxicating  drinks.  Ruined  and 
broken  homes  there  have  been.  Days  and  nights  of  terror  have 
been  spent  by  helpless  women.  Long  anxieties  and  sickening 
vibrations  from  hope  to  despair,  silent  tears  and  public  shame. 
Oh!  no  one  can  read  the  inner  and  unwritten  history  of  this 
dear  old  church,  and  not  see  what  a  world  of  anguish  and  disap- 
pointment, and  baffled  endeavors  of  parents  and  pastor's  and 
teachers,  and  of  nameless  suffering  for  the  poor  victims  them- 
selves, lies  hidden  in  the  cup.  For  God's  sake,  and  for  man's 
sake,  let  there  not  be  another  century's  history  like  it  in  this 
regard.  There  ought  to  be  really  no  bounds  to  the  determination 
and  zeal  with  which  this  church  should  fight  that  curse.  Not  a 
member  but  should  be  a  faithful  opponent  by  legislation  sought, 
and  influence  used,  and  spotless  example  maintained. 

In  regard  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Sabbath,  the  influence  of 
the  church  has  always  been  pronounced.  Curiously  enough, 
among  the  few  sermons  preserved  from  the  pen  of  the  first  pastor, 
(Barr,)  there  is  a  series  of  three  on  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath. 
They  are  excellent,  orthodox,  determined.  Dr.  Herron's  influence 
was  so  felt  at  this  point,  that  one  of  Pittsburgh's  most  useful  and 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


honored  citizens  (General  Howe,)  told  me  in  his  later  life,  that 
he  counted  it  a  crisis  passed  in  his  life  when  he  resolved  to  heed 
the  Doctor's  earnest  protest  against  Sabbath-driving-out  by  the 
young  men.  No  public  movement  in  behalf  of  the  Sabbath  has 
ever  been  made  without  our  participating  in  it. 

When  the  American  Bible  Society  was  formed  we  were  early 
in  the  field,  and  at  the  formation  of  the  Allegheny  County  Aux- 
iliary in  1818,  Harmar  Denny  was  chosen  its  first  President. 
The  same  was  true  of  the  Sunday  School  Unions,  both  local  and 
American.  Nor  less  was  it  true  of  every  organization  for  the 
supply  of  the  wants  of  the  poor,  the  widow  and  the  orphan, 
whether  they  were  temporal  or  spiritual  needs. 

And  such  is  the  record  in  educational  enterprise.  The  Western 
University  was  first  inaugurated  in  1 822,  with  flattering  and  brill- 
iant expectations.  "It  was  a  public  pageant  in  which  the  people 
and  the  civic  authorities  participated,  and  was  attended  with  more 
than  ordinary  pomp  and  ceremony.  There  was  a  procession  with 
music,  banners  and  badges,  in  which  the  city  fathers,  the  judici- 
ary, gentlemen  of  the  different  learned  professions,  the  trustees 
and  students  marched  to  the  old  First  Presbyterian  Church,  where 
the  venerable  and  accomplished  Dr.  George  Stevenson,  the  then 
President  of  the  Board,  delivered  the  inaugural  address  to  the 
faculty,  which  was  happily  responded  to  in  the  solid,  massive 
eloquence  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bruce,  the  Principal."  [Judge 
McCandless.] 

As  to  the  Theological  Seminary  we  know  that  it  came  hither 
through  Dr.  Herron's  influence  and  casting  vote,  and  all  testi- 
monies, corroborate  Dr.  Brownson  when  he  says,  "His  (Dr.  H.'s) 
faltering  at  any  time  during  these  early  years  would  have  been 
certain  death.  His  moral  influence  in  sustaining  the  sinking 
spirits  of  others,  and  the  force  of  his  name  and  efforts  abroad,  in 
securing  contributions,  were  only  less  than  the  power  wielded 
among  his  own  people."  [Mem.  vol.  p.  152.]  The  early  elders 
nobly  sustained  their  pastor.  The  Rev.  Richard  Lea  was  the 
Seminary's  agent,  and  elder  Allen  paid  his  entire  expenses.  We 
have  been  always  represented  in  its  Board.  Dr.  Paxton  served 
it  as  Professor  of  Homiletics,  and  without  salary  from  1860-65,  and 
your  last  pastor  as  Instructor  in  Hebrew,  the  compensation  being, 
given  to  benevolent  objects. 


72  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


This  educational  work  was  continued  also  in  the  upbuilding  of 
and  large  contributions  to  the  Pennsylvania  Female  College. 
Not  less  than  $50,000  were  given  to  this  institution  within  the 
first  ten  or  twelve  years  of  its  existence,  and  valuable  time  of 
pastor  and  officers  contributed  to  its  management. 

The  benefit  which  has  accrued  to  the  community  and  to  the 
church  through  thiswork  is  incalculable.  It  has  been  most  marked, 
of  course,  in  the  history  of  the  Theological  Seminary.  The  whole 
succession  of  noble  men  who  have  lived  and  prayed  and  preached 
and  taught  in  this  community  and  church,  has  been  one  of  the 
most  signal  powers  for  good  ever  enjoyed  here.  But  call  the 
names  of  Drs.  Nevin  and  Halsey  and  Plumer  and  Jacobus  and 
Wilson  and  Hornblower,  and  instantly  it  is  seen  that  the  Semi- 
nary has  been  an  unspeakable  blessing  to  tins  community.  And 
that  is  saying  nothing  of  the  missionary  and  Sunday  School  Labors 
of  a  continuous  body  of  devoted  young  men.  More  would  be  lost 
if  all  this  influence  were  subtracted  than  can  well  lie  expressed. 

The  same  general  interest  has  found  expression  also  in  the  work  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  Its  re-organization  in  I860 
was  encouraged.  A  sort  of  installation  took  place  in  this  church 
in  December  of  that  year.  Such  words  as  these  were  then  used 
by  your  pastor:  "Henceforth  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation takes  its  place  as  a  recognized  organ  of  Christian  activity. 
This  shall  be  an  honorable  place.  The  institution  shall  be 
cherished.  Redeem  your  early  promise.  You  speak  of  'live' 
associations  and  'live'  meetings.  You  know  that  money  and 
furniture  and  membership  will  not  (one  or  all  of  them)  make 
real  life.  Keep  up  your  spirituality.  Keep  near  to  Christ. 
Write  the  Christian  in  your  name  in  large  chirography."  How 
well  the  charge  has  been  kept,  and  how  earnestly  we  (and 
other  churches)  have  co-operated  with  them,  and  how  much  of 
blessed  influence  in  the  revival  of  1807  and  other  seasons  of 
grace  came  to  the  community  through  this,  many  of  you  remem- 
ber well,  and  the  beautiful  building  just  completing  proves 
abundantly. 

In  all  these  ways  the  church  has  taken  active  part  in  the 
organized  Christian  work  of  the  community. 

4.  The  First  Church  has  always  been  benevolent.  The  very 
first  instance  was  in  1791-3  in  the  contributions  of  our  member- 
ship to   the  building  of   the    German    Church,  which  has  been 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS.  7;; 


handsomely  acknowledged  in  their  recent  centennial  celebration 
and  volume.     Mrs.  Eichbaum  remsmbered  Mr.  Ebenezer  Denny 
and   Mr.  Johnston  (her  father)  sitting,  about  the  opening  of  the 
century,  at  the  door  to  receive  the  contributions  given  as  the 
worshipers  entered   the  church— a  custom  still  observed  in  Scot- 
land.     The   church   led    the    columns   of   the   first    missionary 
societies  and  leads  them  still  in  purely  church  subscriptions.    At 
one  time  Dr.  John  Breckinridge,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Ed- 
ucation, asked  and  obtained  in  a  meeting  in  Dr.  Herron's  parlor, 
$10,000,  most  of  which  came  from  the  First  Church.     Materials 
from  its  manufactories  (donated)  and  money  from  its  gains  have 
gone  into  hundreds  of  houses  of  worship  in  the  West.     Its  bene- 
factions to  the  Theological  Seminary  equaled  "all  the  rest  of  the 
Synod"  (Brownson)  not  without  some  "decided  protests"  of  the 
benevolent  Michael  Allen  at  the  "parsimony  of  the  churches." 
[Mem.  vol.  p.   132.]     One  honored  member,  Mr.  James  Laugh- 
lin,  whose  courage  sustained  the  whole  Board  in  one  of  the  Sem- 
inary's many  crises,  and  whose  generosity  equaled  his  courage, 
gave  also  $5,000  to  the  Western   University  and  825,000  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Female  College,  really  saving  (with  another  dona- 
tion of   $10,000  by  another  member,  Mr.  John  Moorhead,)  the 
property  and  life  of  that  noble  institution.      Generous  plans  as 
to  its  ,,wu  property  and  support  have  sometimes  created  debts, 
even  in  later  time,;  hut  well  directed  appeals  (as  in  1866,  1868,' 
and  1 874  )  always  sufficed  to  remove  them.     Grounds  for  Orphan' 
Asylum,  in  Allegheny,  and   North    Presbyterian   Church,  were 
given    by  Gen.  William    Robinson.      Mrs.   E.  F.  Denny   gave 
ground  for  West  Penn'a  Hospital  and  for  many  churches.     Mr. 
John   Arthurs   left    a   large   legacy  to  the  Bible  Society.     The 
methods  of  benevolence  have  been  simple  and  direct.    Even  in  fairs 
and  festivals,  older  or  later,  no  overcharge  or  resort  to  chance 
was  ever  permitted.     In  the  Memorial  Year,  $24,000  were  con- 
tributed.    To  the  Chicago  fire,  and  all  great  calamities,  contribu- 
tions were  made.    In  1875  I  marked  the  growing  liberality  of  the 
church,  noting  it,  aggregate  benevolence  as  $50,000  subscribed. 
A  -rand  total  was  reached,  of  actual  payments,  in  1875-6,  of  $40,- 
000.     The  defect  has  been  in  too  great  dependence  on  the  gifts 
of  a  few  large  contributors  and  in  neglect  of  systematic  gather- 
ing up  of  the  smaller  amounts.     Attention   has  been  again  and 

again  called  to  this  and  measures  debated  to  correct  the  evil  ■  vet 
(i  >  j    > 


74  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


.save  in  the  women's  collection  for  Foreign  Missions,  without  suc- 
cess. The  church  has  been  careful  of  its  own  poor,  first  by  the 
Sessional  fund,  and  latterly  by  the  Deacons'  Board,  and  always  by 
private  charity.  The  Deacons  were  established  to  do  a  work, 
also,  outside  of  the  church,  through  its  benevolent  care  for  the 
temporal  necessities  of  the  poor,  and  have  clearly  vindicated 
this  conception  of  their  office.  From  $700  to  $900  has  been 
actually  expended,  annually,  through  this  agency,  besides  the 
support  of  the  City  Missionaries,  whose  main  work  has  been  in 
finding  and  caring  for  those  who  needed  help. 

But  one  limit  to  the  beneficence  of  the  church  seems  to  have 
laid  (and  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  it,)  in  the  direction  of  per- 
sonal consecration  to  the  ministry,  whether  at  home  or  abroad. 
Two  who  came  from  its  Sabbath  School  gave  themselves  to  the 
ministry,  one  to  become  a  missionary,  the  other  to  die  upon  the 
threshold  of  the  work;  and  only  two  sons  of  the  church  have 
reached  the  ministry  and  only  two  daughters  of  the  church  have 
been  given  to  the  foreign  missionary  work.  The  most  precious 
things,  after  all,  have  been  somewhat  withheld.  During  the  last 
thirty-three  years  (since  perfect  records)  the  benevolence  of  the 
church  amounts,  in  round  numbers,  to  $750,000. 

5.  The  history  has  been  further  characterized  by  harmony. 
A  Session  of  excellent  men  grew  up  gradually,  added  to  generally 
after  seasons  of  quickened  interest  and  from  such  men  as  had 
been  "proved"  in  prayer  and  work  ;  and  to  this  Session  the  church 
has  always  accorded  implicit  trust.  No  serious  dispute  since  that 
with  the  first  pastor,  within,  and  none  without,  save  that  at  the 
organization  of  the  Second  Church,  has  ever  arisen  ;  and  this  was 
so  short  in  duration,  that  in  1818  "the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
Second  Church  sent  a  letter  to  James  Ross,  President  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  the  First  Church,  proposing  to  unite  in  a 
collegiate  church  under  Dr.  Herron,  with  a  colleague  to  be 
chosen  by  joint  vote  of  the  two  congregations."  Services  were 
sometimes  shortened  in  one  church  so  that  its  members  might 
commune  with  the  other  church.  The  First  has  been  called  the 
"Mother  Church  of  Pittsburgh.  All  the  other  five  churches 
(this  in  1854)  and  the  church  of  Allegheny  City  and  Lawrence- 
ville,  were  more  or  less  formed  out  of  it.  Two  of  them  were 
literally  colonies  from  it."  [Old  Bedstone,  p.  378.]  Those 
Formed    since   are    generally    indebted   to   it.       The   continual 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS.  75 

exodus  from  the  centre  to  the  circumference  has  become  habitual 
and  the  old  church  is  used  to  it  and  thrives  under  it,  as,  indeed,  the 
other  central  churches  do.  And  this  pleasantness  of  relation  ex- 
tends to  other  denominations.  There  is  no  so  generally  recognized 
"union-centre"  as  the  old  church.  The  older  members  of  all 
denominations  feel  at  home  there.  It  has  always  been  Christian 
as  well  as  Presbyterian.  Even  an  exception  proves  the  rule  in 
this  case.  In  1820  Synod  passed  some  orders  about  inter-com- 
munion, counseling  against  communion  with  those  who  deny  the 
"doctrines  of  grace,"  but  deciding  against  exclusion  of  any  such 
as  "hold  Arminian  views,"  provided  they  "after  conversation" 
give  "satisfactory  evidence  of  piety."  [Syn.  Min.  p.  162.]  A 
case  arose.  A  most  godly  man  communed  with  his  wife  in  the 
Methodist  Church,  to  which  she  withdrew.  The  Session  took 
action  in  resolutions,  to  be  read  to  the  congregation,  affirming 
that  the  "practice  of  occasional  communion  with  those  churches 
which  are  known  to  support  doctrines  utterly  repugnant  to  those 
declared  in  the  standards  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,"  was 
"calculated  to  divide  and  distract  the  church  ;  to  weaken  the  con- 
fidence of  its  members  in  the  importance  of  many  of  the  leading 
doctrines  of  divine  revelation,  and  to  destroy  that  testimony  which 
the  church  has  always  borne  for  the  great  truths  of  Christianity." 
Appended  was  the  assurance  that  the  Session  would  take  note  of 
infringement  of  these  rules,  and  the  whole  was  read  to  the  con- 
gregation. But  this  excellent  man  would  commune  with  his 
wife  in  the  church  referred  to.  When  the  time  came  to  take  up 
the  matter,  the  Session  seemed  to  hesitate  and  ended  by  passing 
a  resolution  inviting  to  communion  with  m  all  whom  they  believed 
to  be  "sound  in  doctrine,  subjects  of  regenerating  grace  and  of  life 
and  conversation  becoming  the  gospel  of  Christ."  Then  they  re- 
ferred the  whole  matter  to  Presbytery,  which  body  could  scarcely 
have  been  as  liberal  as  the  church  Session,  since  suspension 
resulted  in  January,  1821.  So  by  the  mistake  of  supposing  that 
all  private  members  are  pledged  to  all  the  doctrinal  statements  of 
the  Confession,  and  that  we  cannot  be  loyal  to  them  and  commune 
with  those  that  do  not  hold  them,  we  lost  a  most  excellent  member 
(Mr.  Benjamin  Page)  whose  godly  walk  and  high  spirituality 
many  remember. 

(>.     Continuing  with  these  more  internal  characteristics,  note 
the  faithfulness  of  the  church  to  discipline.     This  has  not  been 


7()  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


without    many  extensions    of    long  suffering  and  patience,  and 
perhaps   not    (in    later  years,)  without   some    undue    leaning  to 
mercy's  side,  but  in  the  general  course  of  the  history  its  adminis- 
tration has  been  faithful  and  its  just  principles  have  never  been 
abandoned.     Cases  of  discipline  for  lewdness  have  been  very  rare, 
those    for  drunkenness  comparatively  frequent.     The  selling  of 
liquors  was  made  disciplinable  in  1834,  and  the  first  case  prose- 
cuted to  suspension,  and  since  that  time  (notwithstanding  repeated 
applications)  no  liquor  seller  has  ever  been  admitted    to    com- 
munion.    The  discipline  of  the  church  sought  out  sins  of  speech 
and  conduct,  and  even  of  business.     As  early  as  1818  the  token  at 
communion  was  withheld  from  a  gentleman  with  a  military  title 
until  his  "  behavior  on  the  evening  of  the  last  general  election  " 
could  be  investigated.     Two  women  who   fought  each  other  in 
1819,  were  reconciled  by  a  judicious  committee  of  the  Session. 
One  who  had  neglected  communion  was  readmitted   in  the  same 
year  "after  admonition."     A  member  was  warned,  in  1826,  not  to 
appear  at  the  presentation  of  his  child  for  baptism — the  mother 
must  present  it  alone.    An  exhibitor  of  a  museum  was  dealt  with 
in  1832,  for  certain  exhibitions  in  it,  professed  repentance  and 
was  admonished.     And  there  is  one   administration   of  discipline 
for  sending  a   challenge   to  fight   a  duel,  so  late  as  1836.     The 
fretting  question  always  was,  of  cpurse,  that  of  amusements.  Very 
early  it  became  apparent  that  even  the  judgment  of  the  world 
was  decidedly  against  the  worldly  amusements.     Of  the  days  in 
which  the  card-parties  and  dancing  were  freely  indulged  in,  it 
was  often  said  by  those  who  saw  the  change  afterwards,  and  by 
one  who  was  a  contemporary — the  First  Church   "had  no  re- 
ligion "  then.     That  was  not  said  when  the  church  took  a  definite 
and  uncompromising  stand  upon  such   questions.      About  1817 
Presbytery   [possibly  Synod,]  issued  an  affectionate  and  serious 
testimony  against  the  participation,  by  Christians,  in  balls  and 
fashionable  amusements.     It  was  called  "a  solemn  and  interest- 
ing period  of  conflict  of  the  church  of  God  against  the  ensnaring 
spirit  of  the   world."       Christians   are  appealed  to  not  to    "be 
found  among  the   enemies  of  the   Saviour,  frustrating  by  their 
opinions  and  practices  the  labors  of  His  ministers,  weakening  their 
hands  and  promoting  the  cause  of  the  '  god  of  this  world,'  instead 
of  coming  forth  to  the  'help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty.'" 
Sncli  practices  were  declared   "censurable,  and  church    Sessions 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS 


were  enjoined  to  act  accordingly/'  The  struggle  against  the  felt 
and  bemoaned  incursions  of  sinful  amusements  has  been  kept  up 
always  from  the  pulpit  and  through  the  Session  and  in  the  gen- 
eral opinion  of  the  congregation.  But  as  to  the  other  disciplin- 
ary power  there  have  been  changes.  In  1834  two  persons 
arc  remonstrated  with  for  "irregular  attendance  on  divine 
ordinances  and  attendance  on  a  theatrical  exhibition."  A 
signal  prophecy  that  wherever  the  theatre  would  come 
in,  regular  attendance  on  the  services  of  the  house  of  God 
would  go  out.  That  conjunction  has  not  failed  in  later  days. 
Prom  1<SH0  to  1867  what  was  known  as  the  "Amusement  Rule" 
was  in  force.  In  the  latter  year,  after  careful  consideration  by 
the  Session,  it  was  abrogated  and  the  reasons  given  in  full  to  the 
congregation.  It  seemed,  under  the  circumstances  of  inequality 
as  to  the  practice  of  different  churches,  impossible  to  preserve 
our  own  unity.  Moral  force  alone  was  to  lie  relied  on  ;  but  candor 
compels  the  admission  that  indulgence  in  cards  and  theatre- 
going  and  dancing  has  increased,  and  the  results  have  been 
noticeable — as  a  rule — in  a  lessened  interest  in  spiritual  things, 
to  say  nothing  of  other  injurious  effects.  The  crisis  will  come 
again  and  the  battle  once  won  will  be  won  again.  The  lesson  of 
the  century's  history  is  too  plain  to  be  denied  or  forgotten.  ( )ur 
best  periods  have  been  those  in  which  there  was  least  compro- 
mising of  the  church's  purity  and  spirituality  by  indulgence  in 
(|iiestionable  amusements. 

7.  Another  marked  characteristic  of  the  church  has  been  the 
simplicity  which  has  been  preserved  in  its  houses  of  worship,  its 
services,  and,  to  a  commendable  degree,  in  almost  everything.  It 
has  seemed  to  be  easily  satisfied  with  substantial  and  to  have 
had  little  craving  for  novelties.  No  difficulty  was  experienced 
with  regard  to  the  psalmody  which  was  so  fruitful  a  source  of 
contention  in  other  churches.  Denominational  deliverances  were 
made  very  early.  A  committee  on  selections  was  appointed  by 
Presbytery  in  1785,  and  their  action  approved  in  17*7.  Liberty 
was  given  to  all  in  the  whole  matter  in  an  action  for  which 
Messrs.  Finley, McMillan,  Power,  and  our  first  pastor,  Barr,  voted 
in  unison.  The  eminent  Judge  Addison  introduced  hymn  books 
before  the  (dose  of  last  century.  Others  were  brought  out  after 
the  1804  building  had  been  erected.  The  service  of  soul;  has 
been  always  cared  for,  and  invariably  conducted  by  those  who 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


were  in  sympathy  with  its  spiritual  meaning.  As  early  as  1803 
the  trustees  put  on  record  that  "twenty-four  dollars  annually  be 
paid  in  quarterly  payments  to  a  Clerk,  whom  the  Session  may  ap- 
point for  service  in  psalmody  in  publick  worship,  and  that  the 
President  draw  orders  on  the  Treasury,  to  be  paid  out  of  the  con- 
tingent money  for  this  purpose."  They  began  right  in  principle 
as  to  the  Sessional  supervision  of  the  service  of  song,  and  that 
principle  has  never  been  abandoned.  The  salary  was  in  propor- 
tion to  the  size  of  the  log  church.  In  1807  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  wait  on  Mr.  James  B.  Clow  (an  elder)  to  know  "  on 
what  terms  he  will  engage  to  Clerk  for  the  church."  A  petition 
of  twenty  members  was  presented  to  him  and  $50  offered  him 
again  in  1808.  In  1818  Mr.  Chute  resigns  as  Clerk  and  is 
thanked  for  services  and  requested  to  continue  until  other  ar- 
rangements can  be  made,  and  a  committee  is  appointed  to  "  report 
a  plan  for  obtaining  a  leader  of  psalmody  for  the  congregation." 
It  was  an  important  affair,  you  see.  The  salary  was  now  about 
$75  per  annum.  Excellent  resolutions  about  church  singing 
were  passed  in  1829.  Instruments  were  ordered  out  in  November, 
1833,  by  the  trustees,  but  the  matter  was  soon  after  left  to  the 
Session,  and  in  1846  it  was  noted  that  $50  were  voted  to  "pay  the 
bass  viol."  At  one  time  the  "  young  men  of  the  congregation  who 
compose  the  choir"  asked  that  the  salary  of  a  chorister  "be 
devoted  to  benevolent  purposes,"  they  proposing  to  "conduct  the 
singing."  It  is  a  little  singular  that  concerning  no  other  partic- 
ular of  the  church  life  have  we  so  full  and  particular  a  record 
from  the  opening  of  this  century.  The  large  chorus-choir  for  so 
many  years  conducted  by  that  true  son  of  Asaph — who  prayed 
as  fervently  as  he  sang— Mr.  John  Wright,  was  a  source  of  pride 
and  satisfaction,  and  edification  too,  to  the  congregation.  The 
organ  was  introduced  in  1862,  changed  for  a  better  one  within 
ten  years  from  its  introduction  and  improved  again  a  few  years 
later.  It  has  spoken  to  us  through  many  scenes  of  sacred  joy  and 
sorrow  by  the  skillful  touch  and  gifted  perceptions  and  reverent 
style  of  Mr.  C.  C.  Mellor,  for  all  these  years.  The  later  arrange- 
ments have  all  been  satisfactory  in  a  high  degree.  The  intro- 
duction of  our  present  enlarged  and  carefully  edited  book  of 
hymns,  accompanied  with  music,  has  helped  us  to  keep  this 
service  simple  by  the  regular  use  of  the   adapted  music,  and  to 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


develop  its  usefulness  by  many  new  and  noble  hymns,  and  by 
acquaintance  with  their  authorship  and  date. 

The  communion  method  of  the  church  is  peculiarly  illustrative 
of  its  adherence  to  the  simplicity  of  old  customs.  The  sacraments 
have  always  been  marked  with  special  seriousness  and  impressive- 
ness.  Only  one  effort  has  ever  been  made  to  change  the  custom 
now  in  use.  In  1834  it  was  resolved  to  sit  together  in  the  front 
pews,  that  communion  be  held  in  the  afternoon,  the  exercises  all  to 
be  appropriate  to  that  service.  No  tokens  were  to  be  distributed. 
The  experiment  was  soon  abandoned  and  the  old  observance 
restored,  except  the  tokens*  For  a  long  time  early  in  this 
century,  Mr.  Clow  seemed  to  be  the  only  elder  to  officiate  at 
the  communion  (Mr.  John  Wilkins  not  engaging  in  this  duty 
until  very  late  in  his  life).  Elders  of  other  churches  would 
often  assist,  and  Father  Patterson  and  Dr.  Swift  were  often 
present. 

Thero   is   something   of   extreme    interest   in  looking  over  a 
century  of  such  simplicity  in  church  customs.     The  spiritual  has 
always  been  confessedly  the  first  interest ;  the  merely  pleasing  has 
been  wholly  subordinate  and  the  spectacular  never  considered  at 
all.     How  undisturbed  the  access  of  these  worshiping  souls  has 
been  to  God !     What  seasons  of  hallowed  communion,  with  no 
dream  of  interest  derived  from  novelty,  and  yet  with  the  varying 
experiences  of  life  and  the  marked  occasions  of  ingathering  and 
refreshment,  giving  a  never-ending  and  genuine  variety.     Ah  ! 
nothing  is  so  interesting  as  life  !     And  with  the  simplest  instru- 
mentalities spiritual  vitality  will    create   an  interest  which  the 
highest  appliances  of   art  can   no  more  furnish  than  a  grain  of 
sand  can  produce  a  stalk  of  wheat.     Long  may  simplicity  of  form 
and  spirituality  of  soul  reign  in  the  First  Church.     If  ever  lost 
temporarily,  may  it  speedily  return.     May  it  prevail  in  plainness 
of  speech  in  the  pulpit,  of  adornment  in  the  house,  of  dress  in  the 
pew,  of  ritual  in  worship, and  indirectness  and  honesty  and  spiritu- 
ality of  approach  to  God  in  His  house  ;  to  be  followed,  as  it  will 
surely  be,  by  directness  and  honesty  and  sincerity  in   business- 
life  and  speech.     All  the  success  of  the  past  has  been  won  under 

*This  matter  of  tokens  came  even  before  Presbytery,  where  Dr.  Herron,  pleading 
tor  their  disuse,  mentioned  the  ease  of  a  lady  so  embarrassed  in  finding  the  token  that 
she  arose  in  tears  from  the  table.  Dr.  H.  kindly  reseated  her.  but  always  thereafter 
felt  the  token  to  be  undesirable. 


SO  HISTOKICAL    8ERMON8. 


simple  methods  of  worship  and  the  sincerity  they  tend  to  preserve. 
And  this  great  city  can  be  won  for  Christ  under  no  other  condi- 
tions. "Singleness  of  heart"  before  God  will  aid  in  singleness  of 
aim  to  glorify  Him  in  converting  the  masses  about  us.  Excess 
of  ornament  in  church  building  or  church  worship  invariably 
waves  away  from  the  doors  of  the  sanctuary,  though  it  may  be 
with  an  invisible  hand,  those  whom  it  is  the  church's  first  mission 
to  reach,  because  they  need  her  most. 

9.  Yet  another  characteristic  of  the  church  is  found  in  its 
real  and  honest  use  of  the  means  of  grace.  As  to  prayerfulness,  the 
very  foundations  of  the  church  seem  to  be  laid  in  prayer.  The 
mother  of  the  first  pastor  had  an  "apartment  in  her  house  con- 
secrated to  purposes  of  private  devotion  where  she  retired  regu- 
larly and  steadily  to  hold  communion  with  God,  and  where  she 
took  her  children,  one  by  one,  to  instruct  them  in  the  principles 
of  the  Christian  religion,  praying  with  them  and  for  them,  and 
dedicating  them  over  and  over  again  to  the  God  of  the  covenant." 
Who  can  doubt  that  she  followed  her  eldest  sod  with  earnest 
prayer  through  his  educational  career,  then  across  the  trackless 
ocean  to  the  home  of  his  adoption  and  afterwards  to  his  chosen 
field  of  labor?  Perhaps  much  of  the  harmony  and  prosperity  of 
the  First  Church  to  the  present  day,  may  be  attributed  to  the 
fervent  prayers  of  this  Christian  mother,  for  "are  they  not  all  in 
God's  book  ?"     (  Miss  Jane  Barr's  reminiscences.) 

During  the  first  quarter-century  of  our  history  this  element  did 
not  appear  with  any  prominence;  but  about  1815  Dr.  Herron, 
(assisted  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hunt,  of  the  Second  Church,)  ap- 
pointed special  meetings  for  prayer.  This  was  the  point  of 
greatest  interest  to  the  then  struggling  pastor,  and  this  has  been 
called  later  (by  Dr.  Howard, )  the  turning  point  of  the  spiritual 
history  of  our  churches  in  this  city.  It  was  a  light  kindled  in 
darkness  by  the  attrition  of  earnest  hearts  against  the  declension 
and  wickedness  of  the  times.  It  wa.s  a  stir  amid  indifference  and 
a  venture  of  faith  even  against  opposition.  Six  praying  women 
and  one  elder,  with  the  two  pastors,  were  all.  "For  eighteen  months 
that  little  company  continued  to  wrestle  in  faith  and  prayer  with- 
out a  single  addition  to  their  number."  [Memorial  of  Dr.  Her- 
ron, p.  43.]  It  was  a  bit  of  spiritual  bravery  to  meet  for 
prayer,  when  the  church  buildings  were  closed  against  it,  and 
it  was  called   fanaticism,  and   even    when    it    was    formally   said, 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  81 


"this  extravagance  could  not  be  endured  and  a  stop  must  be  put 
to   these    meetings   at   once."     But  they  "endured"  as  "seeing 
Him  who  is  invisible."     They  prayed  on   and   won   the   victory. 
They   gave   aid— the    aid    most   needed— at   the   critical    time. 
Charges  were  answered  by  well-doing.     Interest  grew.     Conver- 
sions followed  and  the  course  and  character  of  the  church  were 
settled.    But,  even  later  it  was  true.    As  Mr.  Daniel  BushneU  has 
said— "I  remember  when  the  prayer  meeting  was  held  in  the 
church  building,  one  corner  of  which  was  lighted  up  a  little,  but 
it  was  a  cheerless  place  and  few  were  there  to  worship."     After 
the  building  of  the  additional  room  in  1818,  there  was  a  Larger 
attendance.     The  interest  grew  gradually   until  the   revival  of 
1827,  which  came  through  prayer,  gave  the  people  an  impulse  to 
pray   never  since   wholly    lost.     The   prayer-groups   around   the 
stove  in  the  lecture  room,  and  continued  from  evening  to  evening 
and  that  prayer  meeting  at  the  house  of  Mother  Irish,  gave  life 
to  the  great    movement  of    1827-8.       Sunrise   prayer  meetings 
came  on  later,  and  one  of  our  precious  dead— dying  above  eightv 
years  of  age— told  me  that  she  has  gone  to  such  meetings  carry- 
ing one  child  and   leading  another,  and  then   returned  to  get 
breakfast  for  her  boarders.       Every   second  Sabbath  a   sunrise 
prayer  meeting  was  held  for  the  children,  and  a  most  admirable 
contemporary  description  of  them  from  the  pen  of  an   eye  wit- 
ness, will  be  found  preserved  in  Mr.  David  McKnight's  Sabbath 
School  History.     A  long  succession   of  men   and   women  whose 
lives   were  specially   characterized  by  prayerfulness   was   main- 
tained.   Let  me  mention  no  others  than  Michael  Allen,  the  elder 
who  "prayed  on  horseback;"  Alexander  Laughlin,  whose  pray- 
ers were  remarkable  even  after  other  speech   had   become   inco- 
herent by  reason  of  weakness,  and  Elders  Bailey  and   Beer,  the 
one  praying  in  all  the  houses  of  the  congregation  once  a  year  for 
twenty  years,  and  the   other  praying  "all    night"  just   before  a 
wonderful   revival.     Ah!  here  is  the  secret  of   what  has  been 
good  and  strong  in  the  life  of  the  dear  old  church.     There  were 
never  wanting  some  who  "stirred  themselves  up  to  take  hold  on 
God."     Certain  evenings  and  seasons  of  prayer  anion-  our  young 
men  also,  which  have  wonderfully  consecrated  the   little  room  in 
the  rear  of  the  pulpit,  have  shown,  too,    that  this  spirit    has  not 
been  confined  to  those  advanced  in  life.     Far  from    it,  as  shown 
again  by  the  fervor  and  success  with  which  our  young  men  have 


82 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


within  the  last  two  decades  sustained  cottage  prayer  meetings 
and  conducted  prayer  services  in  hospitals  and  charitable  institu- 
tions. This  spirit  may  be,  and  may  it  become  a  universal  and 
unfailing  characteristic. 

The  church  has  not  been  lacking,  either,  in  devotion  to  the 
word  of  God.  It  shared  in  the  results  of  the  earliest  Bible 
distribution  on  this  soil — that  by  the  Commissioner  of  the  Mason 
and  Dixon  line  survey.  It  took  part  in  the  first  Bible  society  at 
its  formation.  It  furnished  the  earliest  schools,  both  pastoral 
and  congregational,  for  the  study  of  the  Bible.  It  heard  the 
lectures  of  Dr.  Nevin  in  the  interpretation  and  defense  of  the 
Scriptures.  It  established  Bible  classes  for  young  people,  and 
occasionally  for  adults  also.  Latterly  the  church  entered 
heartily  into  the  pastor's  plan  for  reading  the  Bible  through 
in  one  year,  and  twice  a  considerable  number  accomplished  the 
task  and  enjoyed  the  reading  and  the  results.  Then  followed 
congregational  reading  in  concert  for  three  years,  according  to 
a  system  in  which  many  churches  were  united  ;  and  for  some 
years  past  the  concert  reading  has  been  in  the  passages  selected 
for  daily  readings  in  connection  with  the  Westminster  Series  of 
Sabbath  School  lesson-preparations.  The  church  has  never 
received  an  encomium  of  which  it  may  be  more  justly  proud, 
than  the  remark  of  the  lamented  Mrs.  Professor  Wilson — "I 
love  the  First  Church,  because  it  is  such  a  Bible  Church."  No 
discourses  were  ever  more  warmly  welcomed  than  those  which 
either  expounded  large  portions  of  Scripture,  or  opened  a  whole 
book  or  defended  the  inspiration  of  God's  word.  The  amount  of 
difficulty  or  doubt  at  this  point  during  the  whole  century  has 
been  an  absolute  minimum. 

In  general  terms  the  same  may  be  affirmed  concerning  that 
other  means  of  grace — the  day  of  God.  There  was  early 
staunchness,  and  the  church  did  its  part  to  make  and  keep  the 
Sabbath  of  Pittsburgh,  which,  until  within  say  fifteen  years,  was 
a  distinguishing  honor  of  our  city.  Dr.  Herron's  appeals  for  its 
observance  were  long  remembered.  The  voice  of  the  church  lias 
never  failed  in  remonstrating  against  violation  of  the  just  civil 
restrictions  which  go  to  preserve  the  day  of  rest  from  the  sins 
and  the  greed  of  men.  The  opinion  has  been  steadily  in  favor 
of  a  spiritual  as  well  as  restful  day.  There  has  been  a  general 
silence  in  the  manufactories  under  the  control  of  the  church- 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  $3 


membership.  If  here  and  there  complications  have  arisen  in 
matters  of  conscience  concerning  the  Sabbath-keeping,  the 
church  has  been  true,  as  a  whole,  to  the  day  of  God  ;  and  will 
remain  so.  May  it  be  without  any  yielding  to  the  growing 
temptations  to  laxity. 

In  the  attendance  upon  the  sanctuary  services,  there  has  been 
a  good  degree  of  earnestness  and  constancy.     Men  have  always 
attended  at  this  church.     The  congregation   has  not   bee.11  man- 
worshiping,  staying  away  when  not  just  satisfied  with  this  or 
that  ministration.     To  an  exemplary  degree,  church-going  has 
been  a  matter  of  principle  and  not  of  mere  preference,  and  there 
have  been  many  cases  of  special  faithfulness.    There  was  always 
more  to  be  desired,  and  the  pastor  ventured  to  say  in  1871,  that 
his  New  Year's  present,  (could  he  make  one  to  the  membership,) 
would  be  "  cloaks  for  the  ladies  and  boots  for  the  gentlemen, 
which  should  be  water-proof  on  Sundays ;"  having  noticed  that 
the    "sort  now    used  are  proverbially    insufficient  for    Sunday 
rams ;"  but  there  was  always  such  an  attendance  as  evidenced 
some  gladness  in  the   worship  and   instruction  of  God's  house. 
And    when   here,    the    congregation    has   been   attentive.      This 
feature  has  been  marked  by  every  pastor  and  by  many  supplies,  (as 
for  example  by   the   late   esteemed  Dr.  Hornblower.)     A  most 
excellent    trait    indeed  !     No  one  ever  occupied  this  pulpit,  I 
think,  who  did  not  recognize  the  air  of  serious  thoughtfulness 
pervading  the  congregation.     It  has  become  the   custom  of  the 
place  and  the  thoughtless,  even,  have  generally  conformed  to  it. 
The  people  have  been  ready   to  demand  serious  and  thorough 
work  in   the  pulpit,  rather  than   to  cultivate  any  striving  for 
mere  titillation  of  "itching  ears."     They   seemed   to  say— "We 
are  all  here  present  before  God,  to  hear  all  things  that  are  com- 
manded  thee   of   God."     (Acts  x:  33.)     By    such   earnest   and 
reverent  use  of  the  means  of  grace  it  has  come  to  pass  that  they 
have  never  been  wholly  in   vain.     The  generations  successively 
have  felt  their  power.     The  Holy  Spirit  has  breathed  through 
them.     Sacred  song,  and  the  whispers  of  prayer,  and  the  sug- 
gestive beauty  of  the  ordinances,  and  the   rich   treasures    of  the 
word,  all  enjoyed  with  prepared  hearts  on  a  sanctified  and  conse- 
crated  day,   have    wrought   their    just   results   and   increasing 
numbers  have  worshiped  here  the  God  of  their  fathers.      That 
makes  the  duty  of  the  present  and  the  hope  of  the  future  abso- 


84  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


lately  plain  and  assured.  Only  persevere  and  grow  in  a  hearty. 
honest  and  constant  use  of  the  house,  the  day,  the  word  of  God, 
and  in  clinging  close  to  the  mercy  seat,  and  all  will  go  well. 

9.     The  church  has  always  been  considered  conservative  and 
staid  in  demeanor  and  method,  yet   its  history  has  been  marked 
as  a  revival  history.     This  feature  was  not  early   developed,  but 
the  contrary.     From   1781    to    1787,  was  a  period   of   extensive 
revivals  in  the  country  surrounding  Pittsburgh.      Cross  Creek, 
Upper  Buffalo  and  other  churches  were   the  seats  of  continu- 
ous influences,   marked   by   very  deep  convictions.     The  spring 
of  1787,  while    our    little    log    church    was    building,  was    the 
point   of  greatest   interest.       All     uight    meetings    were  held   in 
many   places.     Then    in    1711.")   and   until   1798  ;   and  then   again 
in    1802-3.      But  all   this  time  the  little  church  in   the   centre 
thai    would  seem  to   have  been  planted  so  opportunely,  had   no 
share  in  the  gracious  shower.     And  so  it  continued  until  nearly 
thirty  years  had  gone.     Not  before  the  revived  interest  which 
began   in   1814,  and  lasted  into   1816,   could    it  enter  upon    its 
course  of  greatest  usefulness.      But  the   results  of  that  season 
were  gracious  and  permanent.       The  era  of  organized  activity 
mav   lie  said  to  have   begun  with  that  movement.     By  Sabbath 
School   work,  and  other  means,  effective    helpers    were  trained 
up  to  the  winning  of  souls.     In  1822  and  1823  another  season 
of    ingathering    came.-    Details    with    regard    to    these   earlier 
revivals  have  not,  unfortunately,  been  preserved  ;   and  perhaps 
on   that  account    the    larger   and    more    aggressive    life. of   the 
church  has  been  ordinarily  dated  from  the  movement  of  1827-8. 
There  are  a   very  few  still    living    who    can    tell    us    of    those 
scenes  of    power.       It    was    in    December,    1827,  (a    December 
spiritually  also,)  that  the  pastor  and  a  few  spiritually  minded 
members  of  the  church   gathered   after    prayer    meeting    about 
the  stove  and   talked  quietly,  but  earnestly,  about  the  state    of 
religion.     Then    they   prayed   over   it    as    earnestly,  parting    to 
meet  again   for  more  prayer  on  the  ensuing  Saturday  evening. 
The  hearts  of  godly    women  were  much  touched  in  their  prayer 
meeting,  and    on    Sabbath    evening  the    Spirit    was    evidently 
present  in  power.  The  text  :  "O,  Lord,  revive  thy  work,"  and  the 
sermon  aroused  intensest  interest,  and  the  after  meeting  filled  the 
lecture  room.      The  services  were  continued,  and    all  obstacles  of 
"dark  streets  and  deep    mud"   were   overcome.     Other  churches 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  85 


were  refreshed  and  large  and  permanent  fruits  were  garnered. 
A  fourth  revival  came  in  1832.  Fifty-four  were  added  on  ex- 
amination, and  the  next  year  saw  the  birth  of  that  most  vigor- 
ous colony,  the  Third  Church.  At  this  tune  the  church 
experienced  the  value  of  communion  with  the  country,  as  it  had 
been  in  assisting  brethren  there  in  revival  meetings,  that  Dr. 
Herron  seemed  to  catch  the  glow  with  which  others  were  warmed 
when  he  returned.  The  fifth  baptism  came  in  connection  with 
the  labors  of  Mr.  Gallagher,  in  1834-5.  Though  there  may 
have  been  objectionable  methods  and  some  measure  of  disap- 
pointment with  final  results,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  much 
good  was  accomplished.  So  Richard  Lea  describes  it,  The  letters 
of  Mrs.  E.  F.  Denny  to  her  husband,  (then  absent  at  Congress,) 
which  speak  of  1827,  tell  us  also  of  1834.  Writing  on  Decem- 
ber 12th,  she  says  :  "I  had  a  delightful  day  yesterday.  In  the 
morning  we  had  a  sermon  from  Father  Herron,  that  gave  me 
much  comfort.  In  the  afternoon,  we  all  communed  in  Mr. 
Riddle's  church,  where  we  had  the  joy  of  beholding  a  great 
number  for  the  first  time  join  the  church — fifty-eight  of  them. 
I  expect  great  numbers  will  join  our  church  this  week."  On 
December  14th,  she  writes:  "Last  night  eighty  or  ninety  went 
forward  and  took  their  seats  separate    from    the  congregation  ; 

among  whom  were  ,  etc.    A  great  number  of  very  genteel 

young  men  that  I  do  not  know,  are  determined  to  join  the 
church.  I  took  tea  at  Dr.  Herron's  last  night.  He  is  so  elated 
and  thinks  a  larger  addition  will  be  made  than  ever  to  the 
church."  There  did  follow  a  sort  of  chill  during  the  period 
of  1836-1839;  but  that  was  the  period  of  disruption  of  the  de- 
nomination, and  scarcely  any  other  state  of  things  could  be  ex- 
pected. Yet  from  1818-1839,  there  were  four  hundred  and 
eight  additions  upon  examination,  and  only  two  hundred  and 
eighteen  by  certificate.  Considering  the  large  growth  of  the 
city  within  those  two  decades,  and  the  position  of  attraction  occu- 
pied by  the  church,  these  figures  show  that  conversions  were 
sought,  and  that  spiritual  life  steadily  grew  and  prevailed.  In 
1840-41  and  '43,  there  were  further  displays  of  divine  power  to 
save.  This  may  be  called  the  sixth  gracious  season.  At  this 
time  "new  measures"  were  most  vigorously  discussed.  [See  dis- 
cussion between  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davis  and  Dr.  Kevin.  Denny 
Theolog.  Pamphlets,  vol.  2.]     In  ;1851,  just  after  Dr.  Paxton's 


86  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


accession,  a  most  welcome  and  powerful  work  of  grace  began. 
This,  as  that  of  1857,  are  too  recent  to  need  detailed  description  ; 
as  are  those  in  the  last  pastorate  of  1867  and  1876  and  1879, 
[under  the  labors  of  Messrs.  Wishard  and  Johnson.]  These  re- 
vivals were  all,  (if  we  leave  out  of  view  some  things  of  1834,) 
simple  in  method,  scriptural  in  spirit,  moderate  in  tone  and 
healthful  in  results.  Some  were  general  revivals,  and  others,  as 
1867,  in  young  men,  and  1876,  in  children  and  strangers,  were 
characterized  by  special  features.  In  the  latter  year  the  addi- 
tions were,  on  profession,  seventy-three,  and  by  certificate,  forty- 
nine.  From  this  total  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-two,  thirty- 
one  dismissions  and  one  removal,  by  death,  are  to  be  subtracted, 
leaving  the  net  gain  of  that  year  at  ninety,  the  largest  of  any 
year,  I  believe,  in  the  history  of  the  church.  Besides  these 
seasons  of  revival,  there  was  gradual  and  sometimes  large  growth, 
as  in  1872  and  1874,  without  special  meetings.  In  the  latter 
year  there  were  one  hundred  and  ten  additions,  of  which  forty- 
seven  were  on  examination.  Subtracting  a  loss  of  forty-four, 
there  remains  a  net  gain  for  that  year  of  sixty-six.  What 
abundant  reason  for  gratitude !  How  God  has  watched  over  this 
vine  of  His  own  planting  ! 

Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  there  have  been  held  in  the  First 
Church  a  series  of  four  distinctively  revival  conventions,  em- 
bracing the  membership  of  several  Western  Synods,  all  of  them 
productive  of  much  edification,  and  two  of  them,  to  wit :  1842 
and  1857,  followed  by  great  outpourings  of  the  Spirit,  In  the 
former,  all  church  work  was  to  be  considered,  and  "  educational 
interests  to  be  set  forward."  There  was  vivid  remembrance  of 
former  seasons  of  revival,  and  frank  acknowledgment  of  sins 
was  made.  The  population  of  the  "Great  West"  was  seriously 
laid  to  heart,  and  "Ministerial  Emigration"  was  proposed  to 
supply  the  wants  of  the  "Mississippi  Valley."  Ministers  were 
solemnly  called  upon  to  "consider  whether  their  usefulness 
would  not  be  greatly  increased"  by  giving  up  comfortable 
homes  eastward  and  venturing  into  the  comparative  wild.  Such 
are  the  known  connections  of  the  1857  meeting,  that  some  have 
traced  directly  to  its  influence  the  presumedly  perpetual  conven- 
tion of  prayer  "for  the  outpouring  of  .the  Spirit  upon  all  flesh," 
called  the  "Week  of  Prayer,"  the  Sabbath  day  of  the  interces- 
sory year. 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  87 


The  whole  experience  of  the  First  Church's  first  century  is 
clearly  in  favor  of  revivals.  Not  of  revivals  relied  upon  as  any 
substitute  for  regular  growth  and  daily  faithfulness  and  system- 
atic instruction  in  the  things  of  God  ;  for  all  these  things  have 
always  been  present  in  this  history.  Nor  yet  of  revivals  ac- 
companying the  special  labor  ah  extra,  of  some  evangelist. 
Evangelists  have  been  welcomed,  but  the  best  seasons  of  growth, 
by  revival,  have  been  under  the  ministrations  of  the  pastors,  with 
occasional  assistants.  May  this  characteristic  continue  and  the 
church  be  ever  a  conservatively  revival  church. 

10.  The  last  characteristic  to  be  noted  is  the  constancy  of  the 
old  church.  It  is  not  known  here  by  any  programme,  but  by  its 
record.  It  has  been  true  to  the  line  for  a  century.  This  is  first 
illustrated  in  its  leadership.  It  was  first  in  the  primitive  form  of 
the  Sabbath  School,  as  illustrated  by  the  Sabbath  catechumen 
classes  of  pastors  Barr,  Steele  and  Herron.  It  was  first  in  the 
regular  Sabbath  School  in  1815  ;  first  in  advocacy  of  Union  Sab- 
hath  School  effort  in  1817  ;  first  to  provide  instruction  for  colored 
children  by  Dr.  Herron's  encouragement  of  James  Wilson  ;  first 
in  the  city  to  engage  in  City  Missions  ;  first  (and  last)  to  erect  a 
building  specially  tor  Sabbath  Schools  and  purposes  of  Christian 
work.  And  this  has  been  by  the  force  of  circumstances  and  a 
certain  amount  of  inward  vigor. 

This  constancy  has  been  illustrated  also  in  the  attachment  of 
the  church  to  its  pastors.  There  has  been  no  important  disagree- 
ment, save  with  the  first,  and  that  was  due  to  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  the  times.  Such  resolutions  and  declarations  of 
confidence  have  been  passed,  and  such  adequate  and  prompt 
support  has  been  given,  and  so  many  unlooked  for  and  unprom- 
ised  kindnesses  extended  to  them  all,  that  those  who  live,  and  the 
representatives  of  the  dead,  have  only  one  voice — a  unison  of 
gratitude.  The  reciprocal  attachment  of  the  pastors  to  the 
church  has  been  just  as  manifest,  each  one  of  the  three  since 
1811,  having  refused  calls  elsewhere,  variously  advantageous 
when  offered.  The  experience  of  the  church  would  seem  to  be 
favorable  to  long  pastorates,  and  these  are  favorable  to  continu- 
ance of  the  customs  of  church  life  and  hostile  to  disturbing 
innovations.  [And  there  is  no  little  interest  in  the  fact  that  the 
church  of  the  long  pastorates  has  been  also  the  church  of  what 
modern  impatience  terms  long  sermons.     The  three  pastors  since 


88  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


1811,  have  been  alike  in  only  one  thing — a  disposition  to  leave 
as  little  sand  in  the  traditional  hour-glass  as  possible.] 

The  constancy  of  the  church  has  been  evidenced  in  the  tran- 
quility with  which  all  ecclesiastical  changes  have  been  passed 
through.  Philadelphia  Presbytery  was  formed  in  1704.  The 
division  of  the  Philadelphia  Synod  from  New  York  Synod,  took 
place  in  1741.  The  re-union  came  on  in  1758 — the  very  year  in 
which  the  English  flag  was  planted  on  the  conquered  fort  here  by 
General  Forbes.  This  Synod  organized  the  Redstone  Presbytery 
in  1781,  and  that  was  the  first  ecclesiastical  body  of  which  our 
infant  church  became  conscious.  Then  we  knew  the  Synod  of 
Virginia,  formed  in  1785.  Next  came  the  General  Assembly, 
whose  first  meeting  was  held  in  1789.  The  first  general  mis- 
sionary collections  were  taken  under  its  order  in  the  latter  part 
of  1789,  and  in  the  same  year  contributions  were  made  to  the 
Synod  of  Virginia,  to  aid  in  supporting  "missionaries  for  vacant 
congregations."  The  first  recorded  approval  of  Presbytery 
Minutes  is  in  1700.  The  impulse  of  the  missionary  work, 
ordered  both  by  Assembly  and  Synod,  reached  us  in  1800.  Next 
•came  the  change  to  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh,  in  1802.  In  1822 
it  was  propssed  to  form  a  Presbytery  of  Pittsburgh,  but  the  peti- 
tion was  not  granted.  Instead,  in  October  of  that  year  our 
church  (with  others)  was  attached  to  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio, 
which  had  been  formed  in  1793.  The  Assembly  met  here  in 
1836,  and  disruption  came  on  in  1837.  It  is  unnecessary  tosay  that 
this  church  was  not  among  the  exscinded.  When  the  division 
came  on  the  issue  of  loyalty  to  the  government,  there  was  no 
doubt  as  to  its  position.  Its  faith  was  then  fairly  demonstrated 
by  its  work.  Then  came  the  glorious  re-union  day  of  1809,  our 
passage  into  the  new  relations  (Synod  of  Pittsburgh  and  Presby- 
tery of  Pittsburgh)  in  1870  ;  and  in  1882  into  the  consolidated 
Synod  of  Pennsylvania.  In  all  these  changes  the  church  has 
swung  easily  and  quickly  into  the  denominational  grooves, 
adding  its  own  strength  and  gaining  the  strength  of  others.  Its 
century  is  a  good  argument  for  the  steadying  power  of  Presby- 
terian unity  and  order  as  against  the  disintegration  of  Independ- 
ency. The  church  has  simply  stood  in  its  lot  and  accepted  the 
changes  ordered  by  its  own  representatives.  Then  it  has  quickly 
perceived  and  rapidly  undertaken  its  duty  at  every  change. 
[The  sole  complaint  it  has  ever  had  to  utter,  under  all  these  eccle- 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS.  ,sj) 


siastical  changes,  was  that  petition  of  last  century,  to  be  released 
from  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone  and  transferred  to  the  Presby- 
tery of  Carlisle.] 

This  constancy  has  been  seen    in  the  general  consent  of  the 
church  to  the  doctrines   which  arc  considered  representative  of 
our   denomination.     In    May,  1825,  the  Session  purchased  "one 
dozen  Confessions  of  Faith   for   distribution  among  the   poor." 
rhe  sentence  of  Judge  Snowden,  written  in  1839,  has  been  kept 
good  until  this  day  :     "The  Session  have  at  all  times  adhered  to 
the  principles  contained  in  the  Confession  of   Faith.  Direct. ay 
for  Worship,  etc.,  and  in  enforcing  the  doctrines  or  exercisin 
discipline    of    the    church,   they    have    received    them    as    their 
acknowledged,  public  standard."     Our  church    has  had  its  full 
measure   of   interest    in  that   acknowledgment    of    our   region's 
soundness  in  the  faith  which  is  conveyed  in  the  phrase— -  the 
backbone    of   Presbyterianism."     Dr.    Alexander    wrote  to  Dr 
U  eed,  (of  Wheeling)  in  1838 :     "Pittsburgh  Synod  is  the  purest 
and  soundest  limb  of  the  Presbyterian  body.     When  we  fall  to 
pieces  in  this  quarter  and  in  the  far  West,  that  Synod  will  he 
like  a  marble  column  which  remains  undisturbed  in  the  rui 
a   mighty  temple."     We    can    see   now,  how   much  smaller  the 
calamity  actually  was  than  this  admirable  man  judged  it  would 
be;  but  also  how  sagacious  he   was  in  discerning  the  character 
and  forecasting  the  conduct  of  the  Pittsburgh  Synod      1 
found  true  and  solid.     And  we  can  now  see   what  he  could  not 
foresee,  the  rebuilding  of  the  whole  edifice  in  re-union  of  1869 
for  which  our  church  furnished  so  appropriate  a  place  for  our 
division  s  part  in  the  work.     I  think  there  are  no  si  ;  ,s  of  failure 
now  m  this,  mission  of   constancy.     There  is  the  same  con  vim    ,1 
adherence  to  what  we  believe   to   be  the  word  of  Go,!  that  was 
found  of  old.     I   know  no   church  less  disturbed   by   doctrinal 
doubts. 

But  more  than  the  constancy  to  denominational  truth  is  to  be 
considered  our  loyalty  to  the  grand  central  truths  which  are  the 
tge  of  all  denominations  ami  which  compose  the  spinal 
column  of  the  whole  body.  The  First  Church  is  now,  has  ] 
always,  and  must  ever  be  positive  in  its  convictions  concerning 
the  leading  truths  of  religion.  "We  know  what  we  worship"  may 
be  reverently  said.  Inspiration  and  atonement,  justification 
sanctification  and  adoption  are  terms  that    cover  realities  to  us 


00  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


Such  positiveness  belongs  to  our  Bible,  our  creed  and  our  ances- 
try. It  was  evident  from  the  beginning  that  the  church  for  such 
a  field  was  to  be  evangelical.  There  were  grave  difficulties  at  the 
outset,  it  is  true.  The  cases  of  Mr.  Barr,  (first  pastor,)  of  Mr. 
Mahon  (stated  supply,)  of  Mr.  Steele  (second  pastor,)  with  that 
of  Judge  Addison  and  probably  of  Mr.  Semple,  who  both  turned 
to  the  law,  as  they  were  adjudicated  in  Presbytery,  are  to  be  in- 
terpreted by  the  lesser  importance  attached  at  one  time,  in  Ire- 
land, to  the  doctrine  of  a  converted  membership  and  personal 
experience,  and  by  the  state  of  affairs  which  gave  such  decision 
to  the  "Log-Coll3ge"  men  of  this  country  as  men  of  revival  in- 
fluences and  methods  and  of  clear  personal  testimony  to  an  in- 
terest in  Christ,  We  have  here  probably  the  trans-Allegheny 
echoes  of  controversies  over  the  sea,  and  of  those  which  resulted 
in  the  schism  of  1745,  in  the  midst  of  ourselves.  Spirituality 
wron  the  day  eventually,  and  has  established  supreme  dominion, 
as  witness  the  history  of  the  Second  Church  from  1802,  and  of 
the  First  from  1811,  the  period  of  Dr.  Herron's  accession.  This 
will  prove  a  sheet-anchor  for  the  future.  More  than  half  a 
century  after  his  entering  the  church  as  a  boy,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Richard  Lea,  who  has  always  lived  beside  the  church  of  his 
youth,  read  these  words  at  our  communion-season  in  July,  1880. 
They  are  so  touching  a  tribute  to  this  characteristic  that  they 
deserve  to  be  incorporated  here  :  "This  church  does  not  shine 
comparatively  as  conspicuously  as  it  did  of  yore,  for  the  blessed 
reason  that  so  many  bright  lights  burn  all  around  it.  Positively, 
it  has  constantly  increased  in  power.  It  is  no  ancient  ruin,  like 
Castle  Dudley  or  Kenilworth,  but  a  mighty  fortress,  such  as 
Stirling  or  Warwick.  Peace  has  been  within  these  walls,  pros- 
perity within  the  palaces.  It  has  sent  forth  streams  to  make  glad 
the  city  of  our  God ;  but  has  maintained  its  own  fullness. 
Silently  but  steadily  its  communicants  have  marched  heaven- 
ward, some  of  them  grandly,  some  of  them  very  humbly,  but  all 
surely.  They  never  halted  except  to  gather  new  power.  Never 
seriously  mutinied,  never  fired  upon  each  other,  kept  right  on, 
even  in  the  great  schism.  And  now,  with  undiminished  numbers, 
inscribe  upon  their  banner,  "  Good  will  to  all.  Love  to  each  other. 
Loyalty  to  the  king." 

Such,  then,  are  the  characteristics  which  most  plainly  disclose 
the  life  of  the  church  for  the  century  now  closed. 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  91 


1.  It  has  been  naturally,  and  by  reason  of  zeal,  a  place  of  be- 
ginnings. 

2.  It  began  and  continues  as  a  church  of  the  people. 

3.  It  has  ever  sought  alliance  with  all  organized  Christian 
work. 

4.  It  has  made  itself  widely  felt  by  timely  and  unceasing 
benevolence. 

5.  Within,  it  has  been  harmonious  and  has  encouraged  inter- 
denominational fellowship. 

6.  Its  discipline  has  been  regular  and  firm  in  principle  with 
a  possible  leaning  to  leniency  in  application. 

7.  Its  simplicity  in  church-life  and  forms  of  worship  is  estab- 
lished and  accented. 

8.  It  has  always  made  an  earnest  and  honest  use  of  the  means 
of  grace. 

9.  It  has  been  richly  blessed  with  revivals  along  with  its  con- 
tinuous and  steady  growth. 

10.  It  has  been  constant  in  personal  and  ecclesiastical  and  con- 
fessional and  in  evangelical  relations  and  doctrines. 

The  sober  analysis  of  the  facts  of  its  history  does  not  distinguish 
any  the  less  clearly  a  multitude  of  shortcomings,  even  in  the  de- 
grees in  which  these  characteristics  have  been  characteristic. 
Alas !  how  much  more  the  church  might  have  been  in  all  these 
directions  and  how  much  less  in  some  others. 

But  such  as  it  is,  the  record  is  matter  for  prof ound  and  adoring 
gratitude  to  God.  The  history  has  been  made  up  of  the  richest 
fragrance  of  redeemed  souls  in  prayer  and  service.  With  all 
the  imperfections  which  may  mar  its  surface,  the  whole  stands  as 
in  that  struggle-ending  promise  of  the  glorified  Christ :  "  Him 
that  overcometh  will  I  make  a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  my  God." 
So  pillar-like,  firm  and  unshaken  (whether  ornamental  or  not,) 
may  the  dear  old  church  stand.     "And  he  shall  go  no  more  out." 


92  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


CLOSING  WORDS. 


Standing  at  the  close  of  this  first  century  of  our  church-life, 
we  have  an  impressive  exhibition  of  the  change  which  rules  in 
the  affairs  of  men,  and  of  the  permanency  of  spiritual   thi 
As  this  life   has   silently  unfolded,  what   a   panorama   has  been 
afforded  by  the  nations  of  the  world.   Our  own  land  passed  the  i 
of  the  Constitution  and  lived  through   three  wars.     France  has 
entered  upon  and  completed  the  cycle  of  amazing  changes,  exhi- 
bitions of  forces  sadly  contrasting  with  our  own  comparatively 
quiet  progress,  but  ending  in   permanent  liberty,  let   us  hope. 
Germany  has  been  pulverized,  and  wringing  victory  from  defeat 
by  careful  study  and  patient  waiting,  is  now  imperialized.    Italy's 
long  submission  to  Papal  temporal  power  is  over,  and  final  inde- 
pendence and  unity  are  gained.     Russia's  growth  and  power  have 
astonished   the   world,   and   its  terrible   internal    struggles  have 
painfully  interested  the  world.     England's  drum-beat  has  been 
following  the  sun,  and  the  vast  changes  in  the  Indias  under  her 
rule,  arc  but  typical  of  the  many  changes  which  have  awakened 
and  aroused  to  action  and  progress  the  torpid  millions  of  the  East. 
Who  could   have   dreamed  a   century  ago  of  a  pierced  wall  for 
( Ihina,  and  a  western  civilization  regnant  in  Japan?    What  prog- 
ress of  the  flying  angel  "having  the  everlasting  gospel"  during 
these  flying  years!      Its  echoes  are  now  thrilling  in  almost  every 
language  of  the  globe.     What  marvelous  developments  of  popular 
liberty  and   education!      Who  could   have  predicted  the  half- 
miracles  of  science  and  discovery  and  invention   and  inter-com- 
munication V     And  even  those  who  thought  most  of  Pittsburgh's 
future  then,  would  acknowledge  now  that  their  wildest  expecta- 
tions had  been    exceeded.      During   these   world-changes,  Iioav 


HISTORICAL   SERMONS.  93 


silently  the  life  within  these  walls  and  alone;  the  lines  of  spiritual 
force  has  developed.  Aside  from  all,  breathed  into  men's  hearts 
from  another  world,  yet  for  all  and  in  all  and  helped  by  all,  this 
life  has  persisted.  Empires  come  and  go,  but  the  church  is 
"praying  yet." 

Here  has  been  presented  a  record  which  may  well  challenge 
the  attention  of  men  of  the  world,  and  even  of  unbelievers  and 
scoffers.  Let  them  "go  round  about"  this  Zion,  leveling  their 
eye-glasses  at  its  every  course  made  visible  as  the  process  of  con- 
struction has  been  unfolded  and  at  every  finished  turret.  They 
will  find  many  faults,  but  not  half  so  many  as  have  all  the  time 
been  found  and  pointed  out  and  lamented  and  repented  of  by  the 
patient  generations  of  builders.  And  what  else  may  they  find  ? 
Can  the  decency,  the  social  influence,  the  business  energy  and  in- 
tegrity, and  the  benevolence  and  the  law  abiding  loyalty  which 
have  been  characteristic  of  this  church  for  a  hundred  years,  he 
denied  by  them?  Now  let  them,  seeing  these  things  are  matters 
of  fact,  account  for  them.  Do  sacred  themes  unfit  men  for 
business  in  the  light  of  this  church's  record?  Do  not  the  grand 
motives  of  religion  hold  men  to  nobler  character,  and  does  not 
the  supreme  love  to  God  produce  love  to  fellow  men?  Does 
"other  worldliness"  make  men  unable  to  he  dutiful  citizens  ami 
loyal  patriots  and  strong  artisans  and  successful  manufacturers 
and  notable  professional  men?  The  "paths  of  peace  and  pleas- 
antness" have  been  trodden  by  the  vast  majority  of  the  thousands 
who  have  communed  at  these  tables;  and  the  sacred  life  of 
happy  homes  in  all  these  generations  lias  testified  to  the  benefi- 
cent power  of  the  gospel  in  and  for  this  life.  How  many,  even 
of  those  the  city  has  admired  and  honored,  would  you  find  (could 
you  call  them  hack,)  willing  to  testify  that  they  owed  all  they 
valued  in  this  world  to  the  principles  of  the  religion  they  learned 
and  professed  here  !  Let  men  deal  honestly  with  the  church  of 
Christ,  and  they  cannot  deny  the  moral  and  conservative  and 
sustaining  power  of  a  body  of  Christians  like  those  who  have 
worshiped  and  do  worship  here.  How  few  of  these  thousands 
have  been  found  enemies  of  their  fellow  men  by  crimes  of  pecu- 
lation or  violence,  or  intemperance  or  impurity!  Which  has 
fed  the  jails  and  penitentiaries,  this  church  and  those  which  have 
sprung  from  it,  or  Barney  Coyle's  saloon  (which  Father  Maguire 
mentioned,)  and  its    progeny    of    thousands  like   it?     What  of 


!>4  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


the  gospel  here  and  the  theatres  on  the  avenues  hard  by  as 
teachers  of  moi'als,  purity  of  life  and  thought?  To  which 
ought  a  frightened  city,  becoming  nervous  for  its  own  safety, 
turn  as  the  great  popular  educator  in  the  noble  art  of  right 
living  ?  The  review  of  our  century,  rightly  taken  up,  would  be 
fraught  with  lessons  for  our  whole  population,  and  especially 
for  our  civil  officers  and  our  press. 

But  this  witness  for  the  truth  of  God  has  been  borne  by  men 
and  women  (and  children  too,)  who  were  themselves  being 
borne  away — caught  up  when  their  testimony  was  finished,  as  is 
God's  promise  :  leaving  the  banner  to  other  hands.  In  all  these 
years  what  a  steady  exodus  to  heaven  !  Some  have  gone  every 
year,  and  in  some  years  many.  Parents  after  the  children,  whose 
early  death,  it  may  be,  led  them  to  the  Saviour.  Clusters  of 
lilies  has  the  Master  gathered  from  these  borders  as  the  bap- 
tized children  were  called  to  His  arms.  Rest  has  He  given  the 
weary  and  the  aged.  Work  here  has  He  exchanged  for  work 
there  in  many  an  earnest  middle  life.  In  the  comforting  view  of 
our  beautiful  faith,  the  portals  of  heaven  have  been  always  open 
above  this  spot  :  and  the  souls  of  believers  "  made  perfect  in  holi- 
ness," have  been  "immediately  passing  into  glory"  through  the 
very  shadows  that  seemed,  at  times,  to  gather  so  heavily  about 
those  that  were  left.  With  what  gratitude  we  ought  to  remem- 
ber that  not  one  of  all  the  hundreds  of  Christians  called  from 
this  communion  to  that  of  the  "church  of  the  first-born,"  lias 
ever  been  called  to  die  in  the  midst  of  darkness  or  spiritual  de- 
sertion. [Certainly  I  have  never  heard  of  a  case  of  the  kind.] 
And  on  the  other  hand,  how  many  displays  of  unfathomable 
grace  in  the  dying  experiences  of  these  dear  people  of  God.  Ah  ! 
how  I  remember  some  of  them.  How  richly  .God's  promises  have 
comforted  you  as  they  were  comforting  them  who  were  passing 
into  the  unseen  to  meet  Him  who  lights  it  all  up  as  a  palace  by 
the  very  fact  of  His  presence  there.  How  many  times  there  has 
been  nothing  left  us  but  to  "rest  and  be  thankful  "  when  God 
had  taken  His  own  to  Himself.  So  shall  it  be  with  us  in  our 
turn.  All  shall  be  well.  Heaven  is  not  far  away.  The  door 
seems  fairly  ajar,  and  the  song  of  redemption  almost  audible, 
as  we  look  upward  toward  that  now  "great  cloud  of  witnesses" 
that  has  been  gathering  there  from  this  church  alone  during  a 
century  of  time. 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  95 


But  now  to  the  last  words  of  this  whole  occasion.  The  great 
impulse  of  our  centennial  is  forward  !  The  past  is  to  be  re- 
membered only  as  the  foundation  of  a  house  is— it  is  something 
to  build  upon.  It  may  give  shape,  as  it  will  give  solidity  to 
the  superstructure,  but  it  is  no  end  to  itself.  In  the  Annual 
Sermon  of  1869,  I  said,  "Thinking  over  what  we  have  done 
rather  than  of  what  remains  to  do,  is  productive  'only  of  a  weak 
sort  of  self-dandling.  Luxuriating  in  past  attainments,  is  a  vice 
of  some  Christians  and  of  some  churches.  We  are  tempted  to 
think  that  much  which  is  done,  when,  for  our  opportunities,  it 
may  be  pitifully  small.  And  sometimes  (remembering  the  past 
achievements,  without  the  conditions  of  toil  and  patience  which 
accompanied  them,)  we  can  grow  morose  because  things  now 
seem  more  difficult  to  do.  So  far  as  the  past  is  in  danger  of  be- 
coming a  snare  by  ministering  to  a  weak  Vanity  or  to  bitterness, 
let  it  be  forgotten— "forgetting  the  things  that  are  behind." 

But  on  the  other  hand,   to   remember    the  past  as    a  sacre.l 
deposit  in*  our  hands,  and  all  its    achievements,   with   all  their 
cost,  as  entrusted  to  us  to  be  maintained  and  developed,   is  to 
experience  a  tingling  sense  of  mingled  pride  and  responsibility, 
out  of  which   may  grow  a  glowing  Christian   heroism,   ami   an 
invincible  forward  impulse.       Oh,    ma;,    God   so    help    the    First 
Church  to  use  this  whole   memorial  celebration.     Ours  is  a   holy 
trust.     What  has  been   gained   by   faith  and   patience,   must  be 
conserved,    perpetuated    and    enlarged    by    zeal    ami     devotion. 
Amid  the  thronging  memories  of  former  days,  we  ought  to  find 
the  germs  of   future    consecrations.        We    have    been     tracing 
upward  the  stream,  and  noting    the    oneness    of  our    life    with 
thai  which   they   lived,  only  to  erne   hack  to  the  starting  point 
to  start  anew  in  the  other  direction,   with    added    wisdom    and 
determination.     Only  thus,  beloved,  can  the  experience  of  the 
century  past  enter  with  large  and  beneficent  power  into  the  history 
of  the  century  to  follow. 

The  lessons  of  these  past  struggles  are  before  us,  and  with 
one  voice  they  testify  to  the  power  that  "  overcometh  the 
world— even  our  faith."  Where  has  God  failed  to  help  when 
our  fathers  leaned  upon  Him  ?  At  the  first  infant-cry,  help 
came.  When  the  hewn  logs  were  being  piled  into  the  modest 
cabin  for  worship,  was  He  not  there  to  aid  at  everv  step,  planting 
the  small  vine,  literally,   in  a    broad  place?      When    a  second 


96  HISTORICAL    SERMONS. 


groat  effort  was  made,  and  faith  seemed  to  fail  and  false  means 
were  resorted  to  and  strange  fire  burned  on  the  altar,  how  quickly 
God  left  even  His  own  to  discover  that  "except  the  Lord  build 
the .  house,  they  labor  in  vain  to  build  it."  The  evil  effects  of 
the  lottery  were  visible  until  the  first  revivals  came.  And  in 
these  first  gracious  outpourings  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  efforts 
which  followed  them,  how  present  God  was  to  help.  And  thus 
it  has  been  to  the  very  last  of  our  larger  enterprises.  The 
church  has  an-ever  precious,  (dear  and  vivid  record  of  the 
divine  acceptance  of  her  every  earnest  effort.  Never,  either 
in  more  temporal  concerns,  or  in  purely  spiritual  matter,  has  the 
church  roused  herself  to  any  great  duty,  or  undertaken  any 
great  work,  but  God  has  crowned  it  with  success. 

And  now  that  the  struggles  for  maintenance  seem  to  be  over 
(probably  forever) — now  is  the  time  to  remember  that  we  arc 
nearer  than  ever  to  the  objects  for  which  those  struggles  were 
entered  upon,  and  by  divine  grace  made  successful.  The  work 
for  which  the  century  past  has  been  preparing  'the  First 
Church,  is  just  before  it!  "Rest  on  every  side" — Prom  exigen- 
i  i  of  frontier  life,  from  savages, from  disputed  territorial  limits, 
from  pecuniary  embarrassments,  from  denominational  division.-, 
from  defective  instrumentalities  and  accommodations,  from 
almost  everything  that  can  hinder  :  is  for  what  object .'  Why 
docs  a  fruit  tree  pass  from  slender  shoot  to  stalwart  trunk 
and  waving  branches  and  whispering  leaves?  T<>  stand  tin:,; 
ami  he  handsome  .'  Ah.  no  !  The  curse  of  the  Master  rings  on 
the  wind  and  touches  every  quivering  leaf — if  such  a  thoughl 
enters  our  hearts  !  A  church  grows  that  it  may  grow  :  it  bears 
fruit,  that  that  fruit— having  its  ,<rvd  in  itself  by  the  divine  law 
of  the  new  creation — shall  bear  more  fruit  !  Think  !  !  Has  the 
church  grown  alone  .'  Where  there  were  ten-  and  then  hundreds 
and  then  thousands,  there  are  now  tens  of  thousands.  The  struggles 
for  maintenance  must  only  be  changed  to  struggles  for  productive- 
ness. Some  account  must  be  given  to  God,  (aye,  even  to  men 
— aye,  even  to  our  own  consciousness, )  for  the  resources  piled 
up  here  in  men  and  means,  and  education  and  opportunity. 
There  is  the  great  lesson  of  the  centennial.  The  Red 
Sea  and  the  desert,  and  even  the  Jordan,  are  behind  us  that  we 
may  go  up — in  common  with  all  other  parts  of  God's  host — to 
"possess  the  land"      That  means  earnest,  thoughtful,  intense,  self- 


HISTORICAL    SERMONS.  97 


surrendering  work,  [t  means  work  in  the  detail  of  church  life, 
in  the  outreaching  forces  of  organized  Christian  love:  by  the  de- 
nominational arms  that  take  hold  of  life  over  our  whole  land  (in 

religion  and  education,)  and  which  pierce  the  world  with  avenues  .by 

which  "gifts"  may  follow  graces,  and  faith  be  proved  by  "works." 
The  church  may  uot  be   compared   to   a   century   plant,  for  it 

blossoms  at  all  times.  Still  less  is  it  an  evergreen,  for  its' leaves 
are  deciduous  and  successive  generations  of  believers  disappear. 
It  cannot  be  called  an  oak— for  even  oaks  must  die.  It  has  no 
simile  hut  His  life  in  whom  it  lives.  Perennial  productiveness 
must  he  its  motto.  "  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work." 
No  church  can  he  Christ's  church  and  not  underwrite  that  decla- 
ration— "I,  too,  work." 

^  Turn  your  faces,  then,  with  -lad  confidence  toward  the  future. 
There  the  greater   life   of  the  church   is  still  to  he  lived.     Flash 
the  light  of  the  past  upon  that  future  and  walk  in  the   beaming 
path  that  light  marks  out  for  you.     Carry    the   warmth  of  loyal 
affection,  largely  increased  and  intensified  by  this  week  of  review, 
into   the   worship  and  work  of  that  future.     Advance    boldly^ 
asking  at  every  step  :  What  are  the   difficulties  for    us  to  meet : 
by  what  instrumentalities   shall   we   grasp  and   set   forward  the 
work  now  given  us  to  do  :   what  measure  of  devotion  in  personal 
endeavor,  earnest  prayer,  and  freely  given  means,  is  required  by 
the  situation  of  to-day,  and  what  are  our  motives?     With   our 
•Town,  our  church,  our  city,  our  country  and  the  kingdom  of  our 
Christ   as  motives,  we  ought  not  to   fail  of  devotedness.      With 
such  motives  we  can  push  through  the  problem  of  how  to  secure 
a  much  larger  proportion  of  Christian  living  to  be  lived  through 
the  church,  making   it    less   an    incident  and   more   an  essential. 
Thus  we  shall  solve  the  problem  of  "how  to  reach  the  masses." 
Thus  we  shall  learn  to  overcome  the  thronging  temptations  that 
start  upon  every  side  for  ourselves,  our  children    and    the  world. 
Thus  we  shall  submit  cheerfully  to  these  final  conditions  of  success 
in  the  work  of  the  First  Church  in  its  second  cent  my. 

They  are  these: — 

1.  A  spiritual  life,  maintained  by  devout  communion  with 
( rod,  and  diligent  use  of  the  means  of  grace  to  the  highest  possi- 
ble degree. 

2.  A  just  comprehension  of  the  duties  required  of  us  and  the 
opportunities  placed  he  fore  us. 


98  HISTORICAL   SERMONS. 


3.  A  thorough  knowledge  of  our  dangers,  with  deliverance 
from  pride  and  presumption. 

4.  Old-fashioned  severity  of  conscience. 

5.  Willingness  to  sacrifice  tastes  and  inclinations  for  the  more 
serious  and  imperative  claims~of  imperiled  souls. 

6.  Patient  study  of  our  past  and  its  principles,  by  the  suc- 
cessive generations  as  they  rise,  so  that  the  reverence  for  what 
"  God  hath  wrought  "  shall  never  be  lost. 

7.  Learning,  by  mistakes  even,  to  avoid  isolation  and  narrow- 
ness, and  contentions  about  little  things. 

8.  Eclectic  common  sense,  joined  with  principled  conservatism. 

9.  Unfaltering  Faith  in  God. 

"  God  of  our  fathers,  from  whose  hand 
The  centuries  glide  like  grains  of  sand," 

Who  hast  so  signally  been  the  God  of  the  century  now  com- 
pleted, to  Thee  we  commit  this  church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
for  the  century  which  now  begins. 


DR.    SPEER's    SABBATH    SCHOOL    HISTORY.  !)9 


SABBATH    AFTERNOON., 


The  Sabbath  Schools  of  the  Second  and  Third  Presbyterian 
Churches,  omitting  their  regular  services,  marched  to  the  First 
Church  and  were  comfortably  seated  on  the  main  floor  of  the 
church,  and  the  exercises  proceeded  in  presence  of  a  large  audi- 
ence in  the  gallery.  The  occasion  was  throughout  of  the  highest 
interest. 

After  devotional  exercises,  Dr.  Win.  Speer  was  introduced.  It 
was  with  peculiar  gratitude  that  many  heard  the  voice  of  this 
admirable  writer,  of  whom  the  church  is  justly  proud.  He  had 
been  Superintendent  for  years,  and  had  gone  from  the  heart  of 
the  church  in  which  he  had  grown  up  into  the  heart  of  that  vast 
empire — China,  accompanied  by  one  of  the  noblest  spirits  among 
the  consecrated  young  women  of  our  history.  Returning  thence 
on  account  of  ill  health,  he  had  engaged  in  varied  labors  for 
Christ  as  Missionary  to  the  Chinese  on  the  Pacific  coast,  as 
author  of  one  of  the  best  books  for  China  ever  written,  and  as 
Secretary  of  the  General  Assembly's  Board  of  Education.  He  had 
again  devoted  his  life  to  the  interests  of  the  Chinese  by  laboring 
for  them  in  this  country,  and  sought  special  qualifications  for  it 
by  a  second  journey  through  China. 

It  was  one  of  the  gratifications  of  the  occasion  that  he  could 
be  with  us,  and  thanks  are  due  that  he  undertook  and  completed 
the  preparation  of  two  such  valuable  papers  as  those  which  were 
contributed  to  the  Sabbath  School  history  and  on  the  Missionary 
history  of  our  church  century.  His  paper  that  afternoon  is  as 
follows,  and  is  replete  with  interest : 


100  dr.  speer's  sabbath  school  history, 


DR.  SPEER'S  SABBATH  SCHOOL  HISTORY. 


Some  of  you  probably  have  read  the  story  of  a  man,  Luke 
Short,  who  died  in  New  England,  at  a  hundred  and  sixteen  years 
of  age.  When  over  a  century  old,  in  the  prospect  of  death,  lie 
remembered  a  sermon  which  he  had  heard  when  a  youth,  in 
England,  from  the  celebrated  preacher,  John  Flavel.  The  text 
was,  "if  any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  let  him  be 
anathema  maranatlia;"  that  is,  "let  him  be  accursed  when  the  Lord 
shall  come,"  The  thoughts  of  Jesus  Christ  as  a  loving  Saviour, 
yet  as  a  just  Judge,  brought  him  to  repentance.  Thus  this  won- 
derful thing  happened,  that  a  man  over  a  hundred  years  old  was 
converted  by  a  sermon  which  he  heard  when  a  hoy.  To-day  we 
are  to  talk  about  things  which  have  occurred  during  the  hundred 
years  which  arc  past,  and  to  learn  lessons  which  shall  be  profit- 
able for  all  our  lives  to  come.  One  of  the  blessings  of  the  gospel 
is  that  it  prolongs  life.  Each  generation  of  Christians  now  lives 
Longer  than  that  preceding  it.  There  maybe  some  boy  or  girl 
but  a  few  years  old  anion-'  the  Sabbath  School  children  that  have 
met  here  this  afternoon,  who  will  join  a  hundred  years  from  now  in 
celebrating  the  immeasurably  greater  blessing  which  God  has 
promised  through  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  bestow  upon  His 
church  in  these  crowning  days  of  this  dispensation.  Maythe  Holy 
Spirit  make  all  the  life  of  every  one  of  us,  whether  it  be  Ion-  or 
short,  fruitful  in  works  which  the  dear  Saviour  will  bless  to  many 
on  earth,  and  crown  with  joy  when  he  shall  come  as  the  Judge 
of  all. 

The  glorious  psalm  which  has  been  read,  the  forty-eighth, 
was  intended  for  grand  occasions  like  the  present,  when  we  are 
met  to  commemorate  God's  wonderful  goodness  to  us  as  a  church 


DR.    SPEER's    SABBATH    SCHOOL    HISTORY.  1()1 


and  people  for  a  hundred  years.  God  put  it  into  this  hook ;  and 
He  has  preserved  the  book  for  more  than  two  thousand  years, 
that  Christians  now,  as  well  as  those  who  have  lived  in  all  tin' 
ages  before  us,  might  have  thoughts  and  words  suitable  and  ac- 
ceptable for  justsuch  memorable  and  happy  days  in  the  history 
of  His  people  as  this  one.  Let  us  all  join,  the  young  and  the 
old,  parents  and  children,  teachers  and  scholars,  in  proclaiming 
to  His  praise,  "Great  is  the  Lord,  and  greatly  to  be  praise,  1  in 
the  city  of  our  God,  in  the  mountain  of  His  holiness."  This 
city  has  been  in  many  respects  in  the  past  "a  city  of  our  God  ;" 
and  this  church  has  been  greatly  honored  by  Him  as  "a  mountain 
of  His  holiness."  Therefore  we  should  greatly  praise  Him  from 
our  hearts  and  with  our  tongues  to-day. 

The  psalm  teaches  His  people  for  what  they  should  praise 
God,  under  such  circumstances  : 

I.  It  looks  back  to  the  past,  to  what  God  had  given  to  them 
in  the  land  where  Israel  dwelt  of  old;  the  beautiful  and  rich 
country  and  its  remarkable  situation  in  the  world.  It  was 
"beautiful  for  situation  ;"  "the  joy  of  the  whole  earth."  These 
things  were  designed  to  be  pledges  of  great  blessings  to  them  from 
Him  as  the  creator  of  the  world  and  the  governor  of  its  nations. 

II.  The  psalm  declares,  "as  we  have  heard,  so  have  we  seen, 
in  the  city  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  in  the  city  of  our  God  :"  that 
is,  that  those  pledges  have  been  fruitful  in  the  best  ,  f  the 
present  What  God  had  promised  in' the  covenants  of  the  past 
had  all  been  beheld  and  enjoyed  in  the  history  and  experiences  of 
His  people  and  in  the  comforts  and  enjoyments  which  His  hand 
had  poured  out  upon  them. 

III.  We  are  authorized  of  God  .to  "tell  all  these  things"  to 
our  children:  that  they  may  love  and  serve  God  still  better  than 
we,  and  may  depend  upon  the  certain  fulfillment  of  the  promises 
of  far  greater  future  good  which  God  is  to  grant  to  the  church  and 
to  the  world.  "Mark  well,"  "consider,"  all  these  facts  and  all 
this  history,  "that  ye  may  tell  it  to  the  generation  following." 

The  subject  assigned  to  me  is  "The  Sabbath  School  and  Mis- 
sionary History  of  the  First  Church." 

Let  these  divine  suggestions  indicate  the  heads  of  the  address 
to-day,  in  our  review  of  the  first  century  of  the  Sabbath  School 
history  of  the  church.  Part  of  what  is  said  in  respect  to  it  will 
be  applicable  to  the  other  branch   of  the  subject,  the  Missionary 


102  dr.  speer's  sabbath  school  history. 


history,  which  will  he  given   at  another  time.     We    will   now 
consider, 

I,  1784.  The  beginning  of  the  century  ;  its  pledges  of 
blessing  to  our  fathers. 

II,  1884.  The  present ;  the  bestowments  of  blessings  which 
the  century  has  brought  to  ourselves. 

III,  1984.  The  future.  The  promises  of  blessing  to  our 
children. 

1.  The  Pledges  of  Blessing  to  Our  Fathers.  Jerusa- 
lem was  "beautiful  for  situation,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  en 
the  sides"  or  margin  or  borders,  "of  the  North."  I  have  not  time 
to  describe  the  exceeding  interest  of  the  "situation"  of  Palestine, 
the  very  centre  of  the  Old  World  :  and  how  Jerusalem  was  set 
from  the  beginning  to  be  "  a  joy  of  the  whole  earth  ;"  and  tell  all 
the  beautiful  stories  of  her  relations  to  Babylon,  the  mighty 
ancient  empire  of  the  North,  the  political  and  intellectual  influ- 
ence of  which,  and  the  commercial  intercourse  of  its  people,  then 
extended  from  the  Mediterranean  and  Red  seas  to  India  and 
China  in  the  far  East—what  grand  pledges  of  blessing  from  the 
beginning  these  geographical  and  national  relationships  were  to 
the  Israel  of  old. 

And  are  the  same  kind  of  evidences  of  God's  creating  and  all 
controlling  power  of  wisdom  and  goodness,  in  America,  and  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  in  Pittsburgh,  to  be  disregarded  and  forgotten 
by  His  better  beloved  and  more  highly  blessed  spiritual  Israel 
of  to-day  ?  God,  in  his  mercy,  forbid.  It  is  not  our  place  now  to 
recount  God's  blessing  to  other  localities  and  Christian  commu- 
nities. But  I  do  desire  to  lead  these  children  and  their  teachers 
and  parents,  and  the  Christian  people  here  to-day,  to  mark  well 
and  consider  the  blessings  of  God's  word,  which  so  many  utterly 
slight ;  so  that  they  shall  remember  them,  and  associate  them 
with  these  centennial  observances  as  long  as  they  live,  and 
teach  them  to  the  generation  following. 

I  say,  "  beautiful  for  situation"  is  Pittsburgh,  and  the  great 
region  of  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  of  which  this  group  of  cities  and 
towns  is  the  centre. 

How  wonderfully  our  nation,  the  United  States,  sits  as  a  queen 
upon  this  grand  American  continent !  Her  sapphire  throne,  the 
shining  waters  of  the  Mexican  Gulf.  Her  left  arm,  thrilling 
with  the  nerves  and  blood,  the  life  and  enterprise  of  the  grand 


DR.    SPEER's    SABBATH    SCHOOL    HISTORY.  103 

valley  of  the  Ohio,  a  thousand  miles  in  length.  Her  open  palm, 
"here  at  Pittsburgh,  to  receive,  as  it  were,  by  the  extended  fingers 
of  these  great  water  and  land  communications,  the  tribute  of  the 
Atlantic  States  and  of  the  transatlantic  commerce.  Her  right 
arm,  the  mighty  Missouri,  with  its  water  courses  and  land  high- 
ways outstretched  to  the  borders  of  the  Pacific,  and  ready  to  dis- 
tribute there  the  munificent  gifts  of  blessings  which  God  has  sent 
along  with  the  westward  course  of  the  sun  since  the  beginning  of 
our  era.  "Beautiful  for  situation"  is  Pittsburgh.  jNo  one  knows 
how  beautiful  this  region  is  who  has  not  seen  much  of  other  parts 
of  the  world.  Pittsburgh  is  planted  of  God  just  where  it  is,  in 
order  to  be  "  a  joy"  to  the  continent.  He  would  have  it  "a  joy  to 
the  whole  earth."     And  so  may  it  be. 

And  God  gave  to  Israel  not  alone  its  location  but  its  soil  and 
minerals  and  productions  of  every  kind.  He  created  for  its  use 
"a  good  land,  a  land  of  brooks  of  water,  of  fountains  and  depths 
that  spring  out  of  valleys  and  hills,  a  land  wherein  thou  shalt  eat 
bread  without  any  scarceness  ;  thou  shalt  not  lack  any  thing  in 
it ;  a  land  whose  stones  are  iron  and  out  of  whose  hills  thou 
mayest  dig  brass."  And  no  less  for  His  own  glory,  and  for  the 
good  of  those  that  were  appointed  to  dwell  therein,  has  God  en- 
dowed this  part  of  the  American  continent  with  a  peculiar 
abundance  and  variety  of  sources  of  wealth  and  power.  He  has 
enriched  this  region  in  an  extraordinary  measure  with  fertile 
soils,  unbroken  to  the  hill  tops,  suited  to  the  growth  of  the  most 
nutritious 'grains  and  to  afford  the  most  abundant  pasture  for 
herds  and  flocks,  and  with  fountains  and  streams  of  water ;  and 
with  the  common  minerals,  iron  and  coal  and  lime,  which  are  the 
most  valuable  of  all  that  the  earth  affords  as  means  of  creating 
diversified  and  beneficial  industries,  and  in  multiplying  popula- 
tion and  wealth.  The  coal  and  iron  and  lime  of  Pennsylvania 
are  far  better  gifts  of  God  than  the  gold  and  silver  of  California 
and  Nevada.  These  are  the  minerals  which  the  vast  and  ener- 
getic growth  and  spread  of  population  in  this  new  world  most 
needed.  It  is  these  which  have  supplied  the  rails  and  the  wires 
and  the  bridges,  the  engines  and  the  machinery  for  a  multitude 
of  commercial  and  manufacturing  uses  and  for  manifold  designs, 
both  great  and  small,  the  utensils  of  peace  and  the  implements 
of  war. 


104  DR.    SPEER's    SABBATH    school    HISTORY. 


And  still  further,  God  gave  to  the  land  its  people,  the  chosen 
race,  who  took  possession  of  it.  He  led  Israel  out  of  bondage, 
and  avouched  them  to  be  his  peculiar  people,  and  blessed  their 

land  and  their  store  houses.  And  it  was  the  same  God  who  led 
to  this  region  those  who  were  to  occupy  it.  He  caused  the 
primary  and  controlling  population   of  this  favored  part  of  the 

New  World  to  be  a  people   fitted   for  the  n'd  beneficent 

ends  which  He  would  here  accomplish  througn  them,  by  many 
centuries  of  national  and  intellectual  and  spiritual  education  and 
discipline  in  the  islands  of  Western  Europe.  Children  in  school 
should  mark   and  consider,  in  studyin  aphy  and   his 

the  wonderful  way   in   which   during    two   thousand  years  God 
ired  our  ancestors  for  their  task  in  this  republic. 

The  people  of  this  oldest  Presbyterian  Church  are  peculiarly 
called  to  consider  these  prim  with   reg  lis  region 

and  its  history,  inasmuch  as  they  have  the  chief  original  in  I 
in  them.  Its  founders  planted  in  this  locality,  amidst  most 
perilous  and  trying  circumstances,  what,  with  perhaps  one  ex- 
ception, was  the  first  organization  and  h  the  spiritual 
worship  of  the  living  and  true  God.  For  nineteen  years  it  was 
the  only  one  of  the  Presbyterian  order.  For  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury from  the  origin  of  it,  there  was  only  one  other  church  of 
that  order  in  Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny.  And  its  history  has 
lent  it  a  peculiar  prominence  in  respect  to  the  Presbyterian  in- 
terests of  the  valley  of  the  Ohio. 

II.    .In  1884  we  turn  to  review  the  centur 
whether  God  HAS  BESTOWED  the  BLESSINGS  upon  the  genera- 
tions of  tlieir  children  which  the  pledges  at   I  ming  of  it 
seemed  to  indicate?    Let  us  group  the  evidences  that  He  has 
DONE  so  under  several  heads. 

1.  God  has  poured  forth  direct  spiritual  blessings  upon  this 
region  in  a  measure  scarcely  paralleled  elsewhere.  Here,  more  than 
anywhere  else  in  the  land,  the  po  svival  of  1800 
was  felt,  and  its  best  fruits  enjoyed. 

2.  The  wild  condition  of  the  frontier  at  thai  time  made  this 
a  field  in  which  zealous  missionary  efforts  were  imperatively  re- 
quired. It  was  so  among  the  young  even  more  than  among  the 
adult  people.  And  thus  it  arose  that  Pittsburgh  was  one  of  the 
first  places  in  the  world  where  the  modern  missionaryMdea  of  the 
Sabbath  School  was  conceived  and  put    in    practice.      From  the 


dr.   speer's   SABBATH   SCHOOL   HISTORY.  105 


earliest  ages  of  Christianity  there  had  been  catechetical  and 
doctrinal  instruction  of  the  children  of  the  church  and  of  religious 
inquiries  from  the  world.  But  the  philanthropist,  Robert  Raikes, 
in  1781,  seeing  the  ignorance  and  viciousness  and  wretchedness 
of  the  poor  in  Gloucester,  England,  determined  to  try  and  benefit 
and  reform  those  whom  he  could  by  collecting  and  instructing 
their  children. 

The  children  of  the  soldiers  and  mixed  classes  of  poor  settlers 
about  Fort  Pitt,  as  they  increased  in  number,  afforded  a  similar 
field  for  missionary  labors.  The  Sabbath  day  was  spent  by  them  , 
in  noisy  'games,  amusements  about  the  water,  walks  upon  the 
neighboring  hills,  and  sometimes  in  intoxication  and  fights.  In 
the  summer  of  1809  Major  Ebenezer  Denny,  who  had  been  a 
soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  remembering  the  prayers  and 
counsels  of  his  pious  mother  in  Carlisle,  Matthew  B.  Lowrie, 
brother  of  Walter  Lowrie,  the  first  Secretary  of  our  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions,  and  other  good  men  connected  with  the  First 
and  Second  Presbyterian  Churches,  formed  what  they  entitled  a 
"  Moral  Society,"  one  of  the  efforts  of  which  was  to  establish  a 
school  where  children  and  young  people  could  be  instructed  on 
the  Sabbath  day.  Mr.  Lewis  F.  Allen,  of  Buffalo,  K  Y.,  a  youth- 
ful teacher  in  it,  describes  the  school.  It  was  commenced  in  the 
old  Court  House,  in  the  square  on  Market  street.  The  room  was 
filled  with  a  rude  and  ignorant  crowd,  of  all  ages  up  to  manhood 
and  womanhood  ;  white  and  black  mingled  together.  Some  of 
them  were  disfigured  by  bloody  fights,  then  of  almost  daily  occur- 
rence. A  well  grown  boy  was  without  a  nose ;  it  had  been  bitten 
off  in  a  fierce  battle.  A  number  of  earnest  people  gladly  gave 
their  time,  outside  of  church  hours,  each  Sabbath,  to  teaching 
these  vicious  aud  neglected  young  people  to  spell  and  read,  and 
recite  verses  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  Shorter  Catechism.  The 
people  of  the  town  generally  regarded  this  humble  and  self-deny- 
ing work  with  contempt  and  open  opposition.  The  life  of  Robert 
Raikes  notices  this  truly  missionary  effort  in  Pittsburgh  with 
marked  interest,  as  the  first  example  in  America  of  the  same  form 
of  missionary  Sabbath  School  which  that  eminent  philanthropisi 
had  succeeded  in  planting  in  several  of  the  seaport  and  manufac- 
turing cities  of  England. 

Four  years  later,  in  1813,  and  two  years  earlier  than  the  date 
sometimes  given,  as  a  number  of  facts  preserved  by  the  members 
8 


!()(>  dr.  speer's  SABBATH   SCHOOL  history. 


of  his  family  sh  >\v,  William  Lecky,  a  member  and  trustee  of  the 
Fust  Presbyterian  Church,mxde  an  important  advance  up  »n  the 
former  movement.  Pitying  the  poor  children  who  ran  wild  upon 
the  Sabbath  in  the  upper  part  of  the  town,  about  the  region  of 
the  church,  he  gathered  a  number  of  them  on  that  day  into  his 
wagon  shop,  which  was  opposite  to  the  church  on  Wood  street. 
He  engaged  a  powerful  auxiliary  in  a  young  lady,  Miss  Eliza 
Irwin,  who  undertook  to  teach  the  children  to  sing  Watt's  hymns. 
Some  of  the  older  people  were  shocked  by  this  occupation  of  the 
holy  day  in  such  unwonted  employments,  and  arraigned  Mr. 
Lecky  before  the  church  Session.  But  the  wiser  pastor  Sustained 
him,  saying,  "letJiim  go  on  with  his  teaching,  something  will 
come  of  it."  And  before  long  the  youthful  objects  of  his 
compassion  were  permitted  to  occupy  the  Session  room  in  the 
rear  of  the  church  building.  A  portion  of  them  he  enticed  into 
his  pew  to  hear  the  sermon  of  the  good  pastor.  This  little  school 
gave  to  some  of  these  children  instruction  which  made  them  ex- 
emplary  men  and  women,  and  led  them  to  become  faithful  fol- 
lowers of  Christ. 

Here  then  we  see,  at  a  frontier  town  on  the  Ohio,  only  three- 
quarters  of  a  century  ago,  two  of  the  earliest  experiments  of 
that  grand  and  powerful  and  divinely  blessed  missionary  agency, 
for  the  salvation  of  mankind  through  the  youth  of  each  genera- 
tion, which  now  has  scattered  over  the  American  continent 
ninety  thousand  schools,  which  contain  a  hundred  thousand 
teachers  and  seven  millions  of  scholars,  and  by  which  a  hundred 
and  thirty  thousand  members  are  added  yearly  to  the  church  of 
Christ.  Indeed,  the  Missionary  Sabbath  School  is  now  one  of 
the  most  potent  of  evangelistic  means  for  the  revival  of  the  dead 
or  paralyzed  Protestantism  of  some  parts  of  the  world,  for  the 
conversion  of  multitudes  in  Romanist  countries  and  for  the 
teaching  of  all  nations  whatsoever  the  blessed  Redeemer  and 
Lord  hath  commanded.  The  need  of  the  Scriptures  for  the  Sab- 
bath School  was  the  principal  cause  of  the  formation  of  the  first 
Bible  Society  ;  which  was  in  Great  Britain,  in  1804.  Its  inter- 
national lessons  have  stimulated  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  in  all 
Christian  nations,  and  in  foreign  missionary  fields.  The  influence 
of  the  Sabbath  School  has  revolutionized  the  music  and  the  lyric 
poetry  of  the  church,  and  made  music  an  ally  in  all  aggressive 


DR.    SPIER'S    SABBATH    SCHOOL    HISTORY.  107 


Christian    and  humanitarian  work.     It  has  powerfully  aided  in 
quickening  the  Christianity  of  the  age. 

3.  The  spiritual  influence  of  its  Sabbath  School  work  lias 
been  one  of  the  most  happy  features  in  the  history  of  the  First 
Church. 

Labors  for  the  instruction  and  conversion  of  the  young,  ever 
brings  down  a  peculiar  blessing  from  Him  who  so  loved  children 
when  on  the  earth.  We  early  trace  in  our  Sabbath  School  records 
the  evidences  of  the  influence  upon  teachers  and  parents.  Meet- 
ings for  prayer  were  held ;  many  of  them  at  daylight  in  the 
morning,  that  ordinary  domestic  or  business  employments  might 
not  be  interfered  with,  and  that  the  thirsting  spirits  of  the  sup- 
pliants might  be  refreshed  for  duties  of  the  Sabbath  or  of  secular 
life.  A  separate  monthly  concert  of  prayer  for  Sabbath  Schools 
was  held  by  the  members  of  the  church  for  many  years.  The 
pastors  have  testified  that  the  labors  of  devoted  teachers  were 
among  the  chief  means  by  which  the  children  and  young  people 
were  brought  to  feel  the  claims  of  Christ  upon  their  hearts  and 
to  confess  His  name  before  men.  These  fervent  labors  prepared 
the  way  for  revivals  of  religion. 

The  simple  memorizing'  of  Scripture,  though  the  knowledge  of 
those  days  had  not  yet  made  the  study  of  God's  book  so  delight- 
ful in  some  things  as  it  is  now,  was  a  supreme  benefit.  At  the 
close  of  the  year  1828,  the  principal  school  of  the  church  re-* 
ported  that  the  scholars,  averaging  an  attendance  of  a  hundred 
and  ten,  had  committed,  during  the  year,  sixty  thousand  verses. 
This  seems,  in  our  questionable  way  of  learning  the  Scripture 
lesson,  a  great  quantity.  But  have  not  the  Chinese  boys  in  our 
mission  schools,  of  whom  there  are  some  who  have  thoroughly 
committed  the  whole  seven  thousand  nine  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  verses  of  the  New  Testament,  besides  some  portions  of  the 
Old  Testament,  done  far  more  thereby  to  form  a  solid  and 
strong  Christian  character,  than  the  boys  in  America  do  without 
this  ?  It  is  a  mistake  of  our  present  mode  of  teaching  to  instruct 
the  young  in  "the  word  of  God,"  otherwise  than  by  "the  word*  of 
God."  Jesus  says  he  spake  "  the  words  "  which  the  Father  gave 
to  him.  It  is  "  not  the  words  which  man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  teacheth,"  that  impart  spiritual  wisdom, 
and  spiritual  peace,  and  spiritual  power  ;  the  power  which  is 
"  mighty  through    God    to    the    pulling    down    of    strongholds," 


108 


DR.   SPEER'S    SABBATH    SCHOOL    IlfsTOIiY. 


wherever  they  have  been  reared  in  opposition  to  Him  throughout 
the  world. 

4.     The   missionary  atmosphere    in   which   the  first  Sabbath 
School  was  born  here  has  animated  its  subsequent  life.    Teachers 
and  pecuniary  aid  were  sent  forth  to  plant,  in  numerous  destitute 
spots  of  the  city  and  its  suburbs,  nurseries  of  the  tree  of  life.    At 
Ferry  and  Fourth  streets  ;  in  Virgin  alley,  and  in  Exchange  alley; 
down  at  the  Point ;  on  Penn,  near  Fifth  street  ;  in  a  saw  mill  on 
the   Allegheny,  near  Eighth  street  ;  towards  the  Monongahela 
river,  on  Second   street,  between   Smithfield  and  Wood   streets ; 
up  in  Kensington  or  Soho,  and  at  other  places  in  the  lower  parts 
of  the  city,  the  children  of  the  families  of  the  vicinity,  most  often 
the  poor,  were  gathered  into  schools  on  the  Lord's  Day.     Mem- 
bers of  the  "church  living  at  more  distant  points,  as  on  Prospect 
Hill  and  at  Minersville  to  the  east,  up  on  the  top  of  Coal  Hill 
to   the  south,  and    in    Temperanceville    below    it   on  the  Ohio, 
where  the  laborers   in  the  coal  pits  and   glass  works  could  be 
reached,  engaged  in  this  precious  though  toilsome  work,  and  were 
joined  in  it  by  others  who  went  gladly  to  their  help.     In  1817, 
James  Wilson  and  others  collected  an  African  school ;  for  Pitts- 
burgh was  always  a  convenient   and  comparatively  safe  refuge 
for  the  hunted  fugitives  from  the  South.     In  buildings  of  all 
kinds,  shops,  factories,  ward  school  houses,  the    good  work  was 
Carried  on.     In  Allegheny,  a  German  lager  beer  saloon  supplied 
a  room  above  it,  where  a  school,  sometimes  called  the  "Lager  Beer 
School,"  was  taught,  which   in   time  was  baptized  by  the  more 
religious  name  of  the  "Providence   School."      A   great  deal  of 
money  was  bestowed  for  these  efforts  from  the  general  church 
funds ;  but  more  still  from  individuals  who  were  personally  en- 
listed in  them.     Thomas  Plumer  made,  in  1835,  a  bequest  of  two 
hundred   and   fifty  dollars  for  Sabbath  Schools,  the  interest  of 
which   the   church   Session  has   used  with   much  advantage    to 
several  of    them.     John  Wright,  a  faithful  elder,  himself  built 
a  hall    for  a  school.        Several   gentlemen,    now    living,   have 
annually  given  large  sums  to  others  on  this  and  the  Allegheny 
side  of  the  river.     There  were   those  who  devoted  what  is  far 
more  valuable  than  money,  health  and  life  itself.      Thomas  B. 
Beer,  son  of   an  elder  of   the  church,    a  graduate  of  Jefferson 
College  entering  upon  studies  for  the  ministry,  it  was  believed  at 
the  time,  sacrificed  health,  and  in  March,  1838,  his  life,  to  disease 


DR.    SPEER'S    SABBATH    SCHOOL    HISTORY.  109 


caused  by  labors  among  the  poor  and  suffering  families  of  the 
children  of  the  Kensington  School. 

The  planting  and  care  of  Mission  Schools  was  the  principal 
object  in  the  formation  of  the  Pittsburgh  Sabbath  School  Union, 
in  1817,  sustained  by  the  two  Presbyterian  churches  and  the 
Methodist.  This  association  had  under  its  care,  in  1823,  when 
the  population  of  these  cities  was  perhaps  not  above  a  tenth  of 
what  it  is  now,  the  surprising  number  of  twenty-one  schools, 
with  two  thousand  scholars  and  three  hundred  and  twenty  teachers 
on  their  rolls.  In  1825, the  First  Presbyterian  Church  organized 
an  independent  association,  which,  in  1882,  sustained  twelve 
schools,  having  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  twelve  scholars, 
nineteen  superintendents,  and  a  hundred  and  three  teachers! 
This  organization  continued  its  work,  though  latterly  with  de- 
creasing interest,  for  twenty-six  years. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  trace  the  origin  of  several  of  the  Presby- 
terian churches  of  the  city  and  its  vicinity  to  these  Mission 
Schools.  And  as  each  new  effort  prospered,  it  in  turn  assisted  to 
furnish  workers  for  more  destitute  fields.  Thus  the  old  church 
was  far  from  performing  the  whole  of  the  grand  work  described. 
The  daughters  sometimes  excelled  the  mother  in  real  sacrifices 
and  toils.  And  to  all  the  other  Presbyterian  churches  full  and 
hearty  praise  must  be  rendered  for  the  willing  and  zealous  labors 
of  their  members  in  these  missionary  enterprises  and  for  the  noble 
fruits  which  have  sprung  from  them. 

5.  The  influence  of  these  Christian  efforts  upon  the  city  and 
its  increasing  population,  through  this  hundred  years,  has  been 
very  great.  No  human  mind  can  estimate  the  effect  of  a  sound 
religious  faith  and  morality  and  zeal,  upon  all  the  commercial, 
and  political  and  social,  and  humane  and  educational  and  ecclesi- 
astical spirit  and  institutions  and  operations,  of  a  rapidly  growing 
community  in  the  New  World.  All  Pittsburgh,  and  all  the 
regions  where  its  commercial  communications  extend,  and  its  sons 
and  daughters  emigrate,  owes  a  large  debt  to  this  church  and  the 
churches  which  have  sprung  from  it. 

The  various  nationalities  of  this  manufacturing  community 
have  shared  the  benefit.  Many  cases  would  illustrate  the  extent 
of  it.  Let  us  mention  three  German  boys  out  of  our  prin- 
cipal school.  One  of  them  is  now  at  the  head  of  a  bank  in  the 
city,  a  prosperous  manufacturer  and  an  able  counsellor  and  intel- 


110  DR.    SPEER'S    SABBATH    SCHOOL   HISTORY. 

ligent  and  generous  supporter  of  his  own  branch  of  the  Christian 
church  and  of  numerous  public  enterprises.  Another  is  the 
earnest  and  respected  superintendent  of  one  of  the  largest  Pres- 
byterian churches  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Another  is  a  useful 
missionary  in  the  empire  of  Brazil. 

The  literature  of  the  schools  has  been  a  benefit  to  the  public, 
circulating,  as  it  has  done,  through  a  multitude  of  families,  by 
papers  and  tracts  and  the  books  of  libraries,  adapted  not  alone  to 
juvenile  readers,  but  also  to  young  men  and  women  and  to 
mat urer  minds.  Missoinary  and  expository  lectures  have  been 
•riven  at  times.  During  one  year  two  professors  of  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  Allegheny,  lectured  in  alternate  weeks  at 
the  teachers'  meetings. 

6.  The  various  branches  of  the  general  work  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  in  the  country  have  been  aided  by  contributions 
from  the  Sabbath  Schools.  Children  have  been  supported  in 
.Missionary  Schools  in  heathen  fields,  and  among  the  freedmen  of 
the  South.  The  eloquent  Christian  Brahmin,  Sheshadri,  belong- 
ing to  the  Scotch  Free  Church  mission  in  India,  received  the 
gifts  of  some  of  the  children  for  a  time.  Mr.  Scovel's  Bible  class 
carried  Daoud  Kurban,  now  an  assistant  in  the  Syrian  Mission, 
through  four  years  of  his  preparatory  study  at  the  college  in 
Beyrout.  Occasional  help  has  been  given  to  home  missionary 
and  Sabbath  School  claims. 

7.  The  personal  relations  to  our  Sabbath  Schools  of  those 
who  have  gone  forth  to  foreign  and  home  missionary  fields,  who 
have  rendered  important  services  to  the  cause  of  education  in 
various  directions,  who  have  become  pastors  of  churches,  or  who 
deserve  honor  as  benefactors  by  means  of  their  pecuniary  con- 
tributions to  religious  and  humane  and  educational  objects,  would 
itself  be  a  theme  sufficient  for  a  most  interesting  address  or  paper. 
We  can  but  touch  upon  it  briefly. 

If  we  cast  our  eyes  upon  the  foreign  work  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  we  see  at  its  head  Dr.  John  C.  Lowrie,  who  was  super- 
intendent of  two  of  the  Mission  Schools — that  on  the  hill  to 
the  east,  called  the  Arthursville  school,  and  that  on  Coal 
Hill,  now  Mi  Washington.  He  was  licensed  in  this  church, 
June  6,  1832,  and  sent  as  the  pioneer  of  our  missions  to  India,  in 
1833.  Wells  Bushnell,  one  of  the  two  pioneers  of  the  North 
American  Indian  work  of  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  and 


DR.    SPEER  S    SABBATH    SCHOOL    HISTORY.  Ill 


Foreign  Board,  was  converted  under  Dr.  Herron's  preaching,  and 
lie  married  the  daughter  of  John  Hannen,  long  an  elder  here  and 
in  the  Allegheny  church  :  while  Joseph  Kerr,  the  other  pioneer, 
married  Mary  Ann  Caldwell,  Mr.  Hannen's  step-daughter.  All 
these  were  connected  in  various  ways  with  the  schools.  James 
Wilson,  long  missionary  in  Lodiana,  Allahabad  and  Agra,  was 
superintendent  of  the  Arthursville  school.  Albert  0.  Johnson, 
one  of  the  missionaries  murdered  at  Cawnpore  during  the  terrible 
Sepoy  Rebellion  in  1857,  was  a  member  of  this  church  while  in 
the  Seminary,  and  was  a  sharer  in  its  work.  John  Cloud,  the 
martyr  in  Africa,  and  two  or  three  other  early  missionaries, 
probably  were  teachers.  Of  those  who  have  labored  in  China, 
Dr.  A. P.  Happer  was  associated  with  the  First  Church  ;  William 
Speer  was  scholar,  teacher  and  superintendent  in  the  home 
school  in  1844,  and  also  a  teacher  in  the  Kensington  school; 
and  Cornelia  Brackenridge,  who  became  Mrs.  Speer,  was  scholar 
and  teacher  in  the  home  school.  Annie  K.  Davis,  daughter  of 
an  elder,  is  aiding  in  the  wonderful  work  now  in  progress  in 
Japan.  John  Rea,  brought  up  from  childhood  in  the  church, 
has  been  our  representative  in  the  great  mission  fields  of  Wash- 
ington Territory  and  California. 

Many  of  the  studentsof  the  Theological  Seminary  who  have  since 
then  been  honored  in  pastoral  and  educational  labors,  have  been 
members  of  the  church,  or  attendants  upon  its  <  irdinances.  Dr.  Rich- 
ard Lea,  of  Lawrenceville,  grew  up  in  the  church  and  its  Sabbath 
School,  and  was  a  teacher  and  superintendent.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Alex- 
ander B.  Brown,  President  of  Jefferson  College;  Dr.  Aaron  Wil- 
liams, professor  in  the  same  institution  ;  Dr.  Thomas  H.  Robinson, 
recently  elected  a  professor  in  the  Western  Theological  Seminary  ; 
Dr.  James  W.  Wightman,  late  President  of  the  College  at  Bowling 
Green,  Ky.,  now  in  the  Steubenville  Female  Seminary  ;  Mrs. 
Samuel  J.  Beatty,  of  the  Seminary  for  the  Freedmen  at  Char- 
lotte, North  Carolina  ;  Mrs.  Cooper,  formerly  Miss  Skinner,  whose 
husband  is  laboring  in  a  Western  missionary  field,  and  others, 
have  been  Sabbath  School  workers.  And  we  might  add  a  list  of 
honored  pastors  of  churches,  and  of  pastors'  wives,  names  familiar 
to  all — Comingo,  McKaig,  Robinson,  Miller,  McKibbin,  and 
others — some  now  in  heaven,  some  yet  on  earth,  who  have  been 
sharers  in  the  toils  and  recompenses  of  serving  in  this  part  of  the 
vineyard. 


112 


DR.    SPEERS    SABBATH    SCHOOL    HISTORY. 


It  sorely  grieves  us  to  mention  hut  these  names  and  scant 
details  in  respect  to  a  branch  of  our  subject  which  is  capable  of 
affording  so  much  which  would  he  of  deep  and  abiding  interest, 
and  help  to  illustrate  the  history  of  the  influence  of  the  church 
and  its  Sabbath  Schools  upon  the  best  and  highest  interests  of 
religion  and  of  mankind. 

And  yet  this  would  still  he  but  a  partial  view  of  the  subject. 
It  would  be  opening  but  one  of  the  lines  of  illustration  of  which 
it  is  capable,  were  we,  to  notice  the  lives  of  some  who  have  been 
scholars  in  these  Sabbath  School  classes, whose  large-hearted  con- 
secration of  life  and  property  and  pecuniary  means  for  religious  and 
philanthropic  and  educational  and  scientific  purposes  have  justly 
made  their  names  beloved  and  honored  in  wide  regions,  some  of 
them  throughout  the  nation  and  foreign  lands. 

8.  The  equipments  for  work  have  gone  on  co-extensively 
with  chat  which  God  opened  before  the  church  in  behalf  of 
the  children  under  its  care.  The  little  germ  in  the  Session 
room  behind  the  church,  in  1813,  outgrew  its  accommodations. 
In  1826,  it  was  settled  comfortably  in  the  quarters  on  Sixth 
avenue;  which  was  one  of  the  first  buildings  in  the  country, 
some  claim  it  was  the  first,  specially  erected  and  furnished 
with  reference  to  Sabbath  School  uses.  The  several  thousand 
dollars  thus  spent  was  a  very  large  expenditure  for  the  time, 
in  a  line  of  church  work  whose  importance  was  yet  little 
comprehended.  Large  improvements  were  made  in  1840,  in  the 
same  direction. 

Of  recent  years  the  thoughts  of  the  membership  have  been 
directed  more  and  more  towards  the  nature  of  the  influence 
which  this  church  is  to  exert  for  the  future  upon  this  city 
and  its  population.  Its  history  from  the  beginning,  its  rela- 
tions to  the  general  spiritual  interests  of  the  region,  the  disper- 
sion of  many  of  its  families  into  other  sanctuaries  in  the 
suburban  districts,  and  the  wants  of  a  great  number  of 
children  and  young  persons  of  both  sexes,  whom  the  excite- 
ments and  temptations  of  the  present  age  are  powerfully 
estranging  from  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  the  observance  of 
the  Sabbath,  'and  the  restraints  of  even  common  morality,  all 
have  manifested  the  importance  of  enlarged  efficiency  in  its  im- 
mediate Sabbath  School  work.  This  work  has  gradually  been 
made  more   systematic  and   complete.     The    Infant   School   had 


DR.    SPEER's    SABBATH    SCHOOL   HISTORY.  113 


been  begun  in  1830.  In  1871,  the  more  advanced  of  the  young 
people  were  added  to  the  previous  Bible  class  of  the  pastor,  and 
three  departments  were  established,  the  "senior,"  the  "intermedi- 
ate" and  the  "infant."  But  where  shall  accommodations  be 
found,  for  the  expanding  work  and  its  still  broader  aspirations  ? 

It  was  a  joyful  day  when,  on  February  11th,  1881, after  several 
years  of  delays  caused  by  legal  difficulties,  now  finally  removed, 
an  assembly  of  this  people  joined  by  friends  from  other  churches 
dedicated  to  labors  for  "the  glory  of  God  and  the  highest  good  of 
men,"  the  spacious  and  complete  and  beautiful  edifice  which  had 
been  reared  at  an  expense  of  nearly  twenty-seven  thousand 
dollars  on  the  church  ground.  It  was,  indeed,  as  the  earnest 
pastor,  by  whose  faith  and  prayers  and  labors  chiefly  this  noble 
effort  had  attained  success,  then  declared,  a  time  when  "  God  made 
them  rejoice  with  great  joy,  and  the  wives  also  and  the  children 
rejoiced."  Oh,  that  this  church  may  never  forget  the  spirit  and 
ends  of  that  dedication  ;  and  the  solemn  declaration  that  this 
house  was  now  set  apart  for  the  performance,  by  men  and  women, 
of  those  varied  acts  of  spiritual  instruction  and  Christian  charity 
by  which  they  best  imitate  the  earthly  life  of  Jesus  Christ. 
There  may  many  of  the  poor  be  taught  the  gospel,  the  broken- 
hearted be  healed,  the  captives  in  the  chains  of  vice  and  intem- 
perance be  delivered,  multitudes  of  the  spiritually  blind  recover 
their  sight,  and  of  those  bruised  of  Satan  be  set  at  liberty.  And 
Oh,  that  abundant  and  royal  gifts  of  salvation  bestowed  here  from 
on  high,  may  prove  that  the  time  in  which  we  live  and  act  is  the 
dawn  of  the  promised  time  which  the  servants  of  God  have  long 
waited  for,  "tbe  acceptable  year  of 'the  Lord." 

III.  Another  date  remains  upon  our  programme  for  this 
hour— 1984. 

We  have  considered  the  wondrous  gifts  with  which  God 
equipped  us  a  century  ago  for  the  work  which  he  committed  to 
our  fathers.  We  have  glanced  at  foundations  of  good  which  we 
have  been  enabled  by  His  grace  to  lay  here  during  this  first 
century  of  the  history  of  this  church  and  of  Christianity  in  this 
part  of  the  land.  What  are  the  promises  and  duties  of  the  future  .' 
What  shall  we  say  to  the  children  who  are  with  us  to-day? 
What  shall  we  say  to  those  who  must  carry  on  the  Avork  which 
will  be  commemorated  when  the  next  occasion   like  the  present, 


114  dr.  speer's  sabbath  school  history. 

a  swift  century  from  this  time,  will  call  together  another  audience 
within  these  walls? 

Come,  let  us  cast  our  eyes  forward  for  a  moment  over  the 
century  to  come.  Oh,  what  a  century  this  will  be  !  The  crown- 
ing century  of  this  dispensation  !  The  harvest  time  of  the  world ! 
It  has  been  barren  winter,  toiling  and  hoping  seed-time,  prepara- 
tion and  endurance,  until  now.  But  the  time  of  the  harvest  has 
come.  We  see  a  thousand  signs  of  promise  in  God's  word,  and 
in  the  condition  of  the  church  and  of  the  world,  that  this  coming 
century  will  bring  much  more  of  blessing  to  the  cause  of 
Christ  on  earth,  and  to  the  race  of  man  universally,  than  all 
of  the  thousands  of  years  of  the  world's  history  hitherto.  The 
marriage  of  the  church,  the  wife  of  the  Lamb,  the  joyful  ac- 
knowledgment and  honor  of  her  who  has  long  sat  in  the  dust  as  a 
eaptive  and  slave,  draws  near.  Jesus  will  be  crowned  with  many 
crowns  the  "  Lord  of  all."  The  Bible  is  full  of  promises  and 
prophecies  of  the  glory  and  joy  of  this  final  day  of  salvation,  this 
triumphant  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord  when  all  His  enemies 
shall  bow  before  Him  and  offer  gifts  at  His  feet. 

Oh,  "tell  it  to  the  generation  following  !"  Tell  it  earnestly  at 
once  to  all,  wherever  you  can,  that  they  may  come  at  once  to 
Jesus,  and  hasten  to  kiss  Him  in  submission  and  obedience,  lest  in 
this  day  of  conquest  and  judgment  of  His  enemies  He  break  them 
in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel.  Oh, that  none  of  you  may  perish 
from  the  way.  But  above  all,  tell  it  to  the  young,  "to  the  gener- 
ation following."  Come,  children — even  those  of  you  who  are 
but  a  few  years  old,  some  of  whom  perhaps  will  live  until  this 
last  century  of  this  final  thousand  years  of  the  church  militant 
shall  be  almost  finished — come,  children,  give  your  hearts,  give 
your  lives,  give  your  all,  to  the  ever-blessed  Jesus,  to  Him  as  your 
Saviour  and  your  King.  Love  Him  as  you  ought,  and  serve  Him 
as  you  ought,  with  all  your  soul  and  all  your  might.  He  only  is 
worthy  to  receive  all  you  can  bestow  upon  Him.  Let  us  all  begin 
to  use  the  vast  wealth  of  the  gifts  of  nature  which  God  has  be- 
stowed upon  this  region,  and  to  employ  all  the  immense  power 
and  influence  of  our  manufactures  and  our  trade  and  agencies  of 
good  or  of  evil,  for  the  temporal  and  spiritual  good  of  our  fellow 
immortal  beings  and  for  the  honor  of  God,  in  a  measure  far 
beyond  that  which  our  fathers  have  done  in  their  days  of  feeble- 
ness and  conflict.     From  this  day  let  there  be  a   new  era  of  love, 


DR.    SPEER'S    SABBATH    SCHOOL    HISTORY.  115 

and  devotion,  and  self-sacrifice,  in  all  ways  and  in  all  things,  for 
Christ  and  His  Kingdom. 

Oh,  that  Pittsburgh  may  become  in  truth,  a  "  city  of  our  God  ;" 
that  the  church  here  and  in  the  region  about  us,  may  be  a 
"mountain  of  His  holiness."  Let  each  man,  and  woman,  and 
child,  do  all  he  or  she  can  for  good  all  round  you,  and  to  help  to 
bring  all  these  cities,  this  commonwealth  and  this  nation,  and  to 
lead  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  to  learn  of  Christ,  the  great 
Saviour  and  the  great  King.  Let  us  send  forth  from  this  church, 
and  those  surrounding  us,  men  and  women  and  gifts  of  good  of 
every  kind,  which  shall  spread  abroad  in  this  and  all  lands,  and 
make  this  city,  like  Jerusalem  of  old,  "  a  joy  of  the  whole  earth." 


After  the  admirable  address  and  singing  came  greetings  from 
other  schools,  first  among  them  that  from  the  Third  Presbyterian 
Church.  It  was  a  pleasant  feature  of  the  occasion  that  this 
greeting  was  conveyed  by  the  highly  esteemed  elder  of  that 
church,  Mr.  Daniel  BushnelL  who  had  united  with  the  First 
Church  in  the  revival  of  1K27-K,  and  had  been  one  of  those 
upon  whom  the  hand  of  D«.  Herron  was  laid  in  1S32,  when 
he  indicated  to  some  of  the  most  valuable  members,  that  the 
time  had  come  to  form  another  church,  and  that  they  ought 
to  go  forth  to  the  work. 

The  greeting  of  Mr.  Bushnell  was  brief,  but  hearty.  He  re- 
ferred touchingly  to  the  revival  in  which  he  was  brought  to 
Christ,  and  certified  to  its  great  influence  in  the  church  circles 
and  over  the  city  in  general.  The  great  changes  for  the  better 
in  Sabbath  School  facilities  were  mentioned.  He  spoke  of  the 
many  good  men  and  women  who  had  worshiped  then  and  since 
in  the  old  First  Church.  He  alluded  to  the  formation  of  the 
Third  Church,  as  done  in  perfect  good  feeling,  and  with  the 
design  of  extending  the  Redeemer's  Kingdom :  Closing,  he  ex- 
pressed the  most  earnest  wishes  for  the  continued  prosperity  and 
usefulness  of  the  First  Church. 

Rev.  Mr.  Hill,  pastor  of  the  Minersville  Church,  followed. 
The  Minersville  Sabbath  School  was  the  seventh  one  that  was 
organized  and  supported  by  the  First  Church.  Although  the 
school  is  now  fifty   years   old,  it  is  not  so  larsxe  as  it  might  be. 


116  DR.    SPEEK's    SABBATH    SCHOOL   HISTORY. 


But  he  was  glad  that  in  this  day  the  good  old  mother  and  her 
beautiful  children  had  not  forgotten  them  ;  it  will  encourage  them 
to  go  on  and  accomplish  still  greater  things.  Fifty  years  ago  they 
had  to  dig  up  the  thorns  and  thistles  at  Minersville  before  the 
good  seed  could  be  sown.  The  first  time  attention  was  attracted 
to  the  place  was  in  1826.  At  that  time  it  was  the  custom  to 
drink  much  whiskey  at  social  gatherings.  A  corn  husking  took 
place  at  Minersville,  the  neighbors  had  gathered  in,  and  as  a 
result  of  the  whiskey  there  was  a  fight  and  a  murder.  When  the 
news  was  brought  to  the  city  an  effort  was  made  to  establish  a 
mission  at  Minersville.  It  proved  a  failure.  Four  years  later 
another  effort  was  made,  and  after  a  while  a  lot  was  found  and  a 
church  built,  On  the  lot  was  a  black  thorn  tree,  which  Mr. 
John  Herron,  the  donor  of  the  property,  stipulated  should  remain 
as  a  memorial  of  what  the  community  was  before  it  was  leavened 
by  the  gospel.  Although  the  congregation  of  the  church  is  not 
large  now,  they  have  a  Sabbath  School  larger  in  proportion  than 
the  church  membership.  Some  people  who  attend  down-town 
churches,  let  their  children  attend  the  Minersville  Sabbath  School. 
There  are  some  Germans  who  care  nothing  for  religion  themselves, 
who  nevertheless  desire  their  children  to  get  religious  instruction, 
and  permit  their  children  to  attend'the  Sabbath  School. 


Rev.  Mr.  McKibbin,  of  the  Second  Church,  was  introduced, 
and  said : 

"It  is  a  vastly  encouraging  thing  to  think  of  all  the  difficulties 
that  this  church  has  had  to  contend  with — difficulties  compared 
with  which  those  we  have  now  are  only  child's  play.  It  is  en- 
couraging to  remember  these  difficulties,  because  it  shows  what  can 
be  accomplished  in  spite  of  them.  There  is  one  characteristic  thing 
that  ought  to  be  imitated  and  perpetuated — how  many  of  the 
old  members  of  the  church  have  been  associated  with  the  Sabbath 
School  and  assisted  in  it !  If  the  older  people  can't  get  interested 
in  the  Sabbath  School,  then  there  is  something  the  matter  with 
the  older  people.  The  Sabbath  School  is  a  spiritual  power  in  the 
church ;  it  has  repaid  back  to  the  chnrch  every  dollar  that  was 
spent  in  its  behalf.  It  is  a  pleasant  thing  to  stand  here  and  feel 
that  I  have  something  invested  in  this  work.     For  our  school,  I 


DR.    SPEER's    SABBATH    SCHOOL    HISTORY.  117 

bid  you  God  speed ;  and  if  we  can't  get  ahead  of  you,  and  can't 
keep  up  with  you,  we  will  be  close  behind  you,  and  if  you'stop  I 
give  you  warning  that  we  will  pass  you." 


Superintendent  Laughlin  made  a  few  remarks,  urging  the 
school  to  go  on  with  the  same  power  and  the  same  willingness  in 
the  future  that  they  have  shown  in  the  past. 

The  singing  of  a  verse  of  a  hymn,  and  the  benediction  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Cowan,  closed  the  exercises  for  the  afternoon. 


118  DR.    PAXTON'S    SERMOJT. 


SABBATH    EVENING. 


Other  Presbyterian  Churches  adjourned  their  services,  and 
the  people  came  in  throngs  to  the  old  centre. 

The  Commercial  Gazette  of  the  next  morning  said  :  So  great 
was  the  crowd  that  attended  the  evening  service,  that  hundreds 
of  people  were  turned  away  unable  even  to  get  within  the  doors. 
Pews  Avere  uncomfortably  crowded.  Two  rows  of  chairs  were 
placed  in  every  aisle,  and  hundreds  of  people  stood  all  evening  in 
the  passage  ways  and  in  the  gallery.  Two  thousand  people  is  a 
reasonable  estimate  for  the  size  of  the  congregation.  In  the 
pulpit  were  the  Rev.  Messrs.  Kellogg,  Scovel,  Paxton,  Allison, 
Cowan  and  McKibbin.  At  7.30  the  exercises  were  opened  by 
an  organ  voluntary.  Mrs.  Chas.  C.  Mellor  sang  Gounod's  beau- 
tiful solo,  "  There  is  a  Green  Hill  Far  Away,"  and  the  choir 
rendered  the  anthem,  "  O,  Saving  Victim."  The  sermon  of  the 
evening  was  delivered  by  Rev.  Wm,  M.  Paxton,  D.  D.,  of  New 
York,  formerly  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Pittsburgh.  As 
the  well-remembered  pastor  advanced  to  the  sacred  desk  to  begin 
his  discourse  a  respectful  silence  gathered  over  the  auditorium. 
For  fully  a  minute  he  stood  surveying  the  upturned  faces.  The 
quiet  deepened  into  impressiveness.  Then,  before  announcing 
his  text  he  said,  slowly  and  solemnly  : 


DR.    PAXTON'S    SERMON.  11 '.I 


DR.  PAXTON'S  SERMON. 


This  church  is  one  hundred  years  old.  This  simple  fact  is 
significant.  It  shows  the  enduring  power  of  God's  word,  and  the 
perpetual  youth  of  the  gospel.  You  listen  to  it  with  as  much 
freshness  this  day  as  when  it  was  first  uttered  upon  this  spot  one 
hundred  years  ago.  Truly,  "the  word  of  the  Lord  endureth 
forever." 

Under  these  circumstances  it  seems  to  me  that  the  message 
which  comes  to  us  this  night  reverberating  along  the  echoes 
of  the  century  is  that  contained  in  the  first  chapter  of  First 
Corinthians  and  eighteenth  verse : 

"For  the  preaching  of  the  cross  is  to  them,  that  perish  foolishness;  l>ut 
unto  us  which  arc  saved  it  is  the  poiver  of  God." 

You  have  doubtless  often  observed  the  different  impressions 
which  men  get  of  an  object  from  the  different  standpoints  from 
which  it  is  viewed.  Looking  at  the  rising  moon,  for  example, 
from  our  position  upon  the  northern  side  of  the  equator,  the 
outside  curve  of  its  orb,  before  it  is  full,  is  towards  the  right. 
But  when  it  is  seen  from  a  position  south  of  the  equator,  the 
outside  curve  is  towards  the  left.     And  yet  it  is  the  same  moon. 

Such  are  also  the  different  aspects  which  moral  objects  present, 
owing  to  the  different  points  of  observation  from  which  they  are 
regarded.  The  Apostle  presents  us  such  a  contrast  in  the  text — 
the  same  object  looking  so  differently  and  producing  such  oppo- 
site effects  upon  different  classes  of  persons.  The  one  object 
which  they  both  contemplate  is  the  cross  of  Christ  as  held  up  in. 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  To  the  one  class  it  appears  as 
foolishness,  to  the  other  it  is  the  power  of  God  ;  and  the  differ- 


120  dr.  paxton's  sermon. 


ence  of  impression  indicates  the  different  points  of  observation 
from  which  they  form  their  opinions.  The  one  sees  the  cross 
from  the  standpoint  of  a  lost,  perishing  man,  the  other  from  the 
standpoint  of  a  saved  believer. 

"The  preaching  of  the  cross  is  to  them  that  perish  foolishness  ; 
but  to  us  who  are  saved  it  is  the  power  of  God." 

Hence  in  this  text  we  have  : 
I.     The  object  presented  to  our  view — the  cross  of  Christ. 
II.     The  estimate  which  we  form  of  it — to  some  it  is  foolish- 
ness, to  some  it  is  the  power  of  God. 

III.     The  standpoint  which  this   estimate  indicates— that  of 
the  lost  or  the  saved. 

I.  The  object  presented  to  our  view  in  the  gospel — the 
cross.  Literally,  the  cross  was  the  wooden  instrument  of 
torture  and  death  upon  which  our  Lord  was  crucified.  To 
the  Jew  and  the  heathen  it  conveyed  the  idea  of  shame  and 
infamy ;  but  in  our  minds  it  is  associated  with  everything  that 
is  beautiful  in  virtue,  attractive  in  benevolence,  sacred  in  religion, 
and  sublime  in  self-sacrifice.  It  is  the  token  of  heaven's  love, 
the  emblem  of  the  loftiest  heroism,  the  symbol  of  our  faith, 
the  sign  of  our  Passover  rescue  from  sin  and  death,  and  the 
pledge  of  eternal  salvation.  The  character  of  Him  who  died 
ui)on  the  cross  surrounds  it  with  a  halo  of  glory.  The  principles 
which  it  embodied  and  expressed  live  in  the  heart  of  the 
world  and  destine  the  cross  to  a  perpetual  renown.  The  bless- 
ings which  it  brings  us  are  so  precious,  and  its  results  in  the 
world's  history  so  great,  as  to  embalm  it  in  our  dearest  memories 
and  encircle  it  with  the  chaplet  of  immortality.  He  who  hung 
upon  it  was  for  the  suffering  of  death  crowned  with  glory  and 
honor.  The  cross  was  the  stepping-stone  to  the  throne.  It  con- 
verted the  malefactor  into  the  monarch,  and  the  crown  of  thorns 
into  a  diadem  of  glory.  Hence  the  cross  has  a  wondrous  mean- 
ing that  it  will  take  the  history  of  all  time  to  tell,  and  the  sweep 
of  all  eternity  to  celebrate.  Constantine  inscribed  it  upon  his 
banners,  and  the  Roman  legions  followed  it  as  the  sign  of  victory. 
Art  adopts  it  as  its  most  sacred  symbol.  Science  exhibits  its 
image  and  superscription.  Piety  consecrates  it  as  the  symbol  of 
its  devotion.  Taste  imitates  its  form  in  gold  and  precious  stones, 
and  makes  it  the  adornment  of  beauty  and  grace.  Progress 
adopts  it  as  the  watchword  of  its  advance.     Poetry  gilds  with  it 


dr.  paxton's  sermon.  121 


its  highest  inspirations,  and  in  all  the  visions  of  the  future  it  is 
the  cross  Ave  see  triumphing  over  the  wrecks  of  time. 

The  cross,  then,  means  the  doctrine  of  the  cross,  the  great 
truth  which  the  cross  embodies  and  expresses. 

Hence  it  follows  that  the  preaching  of  the  cross  is  the  utter- 
ance, the  proclamation  of  this  truth  in  the  ears  of  men.  It  is  not 
simply  the  telling  of  the  story  of  the  death  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
upon  the  cross,  for  that  alone  would  simply  be  the  preaching  of 
the  crucifix. 

To  preach  the  cross  is  to  tell  who  He  was  who  died  upon  it— 
that  He  was  the  Son  of  God. 

It  is  to  explain  the  meaning  of  His  death — that  it  was  the  ex- 
pression of  God's  great  love  to  men. 

It  is  to  show  the  purpose  of  His  death — that  it  was  to  make  an 
atonement  for  the  sins  of  men. 

It  is  to  exhibit  the  results  of  His  death — that  it  secures  pardon 
and  reconciliation  with  God. 

It  is  to  make  a  free  offer  of  pardon  and  salvation  through  the 
death  of  Christ  to  all  who  believe. 

The  preaching  of  the  cross  is  then  the  gladdest  tidings  that  the 
tongue  of  man  ever  uttered  or  the  ears  of  men  ever  heard.  It  tells 
us  that  all  that  conscience  ever  foreboded  in  reference  to  our  guilt 
is  true,  that  we  are  sinners  more  wretched  and  guilty  than  we  ever 
properly  understood— but  that  God,  the  great  God  with  whom 
we  have  to  do,  loves  us.  He  so  loved  us  that  He  could  not 
permit  us  to  perish  in  our  wretchedness,  nay.  that  He  so  loved 
us  as  to  give  His  own  Son  to  die  for  us,  that  if  we  would  know 
how  much  He  loved  us  we  must  measure  God's  love  to  His  only 
begotten  Son,  and  then  think  that  He  delivered  Him  up  for  us, 
and  that  will  be  the  measure  of  His  love  to  us.  It  tells  us 
that  this  death  was  the  expiation  of  our  guilt,  and  that  now  He 
invites  us  with  open  arms  to  come  back  to  His  love  and  embrace. 

Now  what  impression  does  this  make  upon  you?  This  is  the 
preaching  of  the  cross.  As  it  holds  up  salvation  through  the 
atoning  death  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  eyes  of  men— what  estimate 
do  you  form  of  this  preaching  of  the  cross  ? 

II.  This  is  the  second  point  of  the  text.  To  some  the  preaehing 
of  the  cross  is  foolishness. 

Is  not  this  strange  ?  If  you  were  to  carry  the  promise  of  a 
pardon  to  a  condemned  culprit  in  his  cell,  it  would  not  be  fool- 

♦7 


122  dr.  paxton's  sermon. 


ishness  to  him.  Or  if  you  take  a  message  of  a  life-boat  coming 
to  the  rescue  to  a  company  of  passengers  despairing  in  the  hold 
of  a  sinking  vessel,  it  would  not  be  foolishness  to  them,  but  the 
gladdest  sound  their  ears  had  ever  heard.  Yet  strange  to  say,  the 
preaching  of  the  cross,  the  message  of  God's  pardon  to  the  con- 
demned, the  tidings  of  God's  rescue  to  the  perishing,  is  heard, 
turned  aside,  and  scorned  as  foolishness.  Why  is  this?  The 
key  to  the  answer  we  have  already  suggested.  The  stand- 
point which  we  occupy  determines  the  impression  which  we 
receive.  If  the  culprit  should  listen  to  our  promise  of  pardon  in 
a  spirit  of  unbelief,  he  would  reject  it  as  foolishness.  Or  if  you 
announce  the  coming  of  a  life-boat  to  passengers  who  are  not 
aware  of  any  danger,  it  will  bring  no  joy  to  them.  In  both  these 
cases  the  subjective  mental  state  of  the  person  determines  the 
impression  which  your  message  will  make.  In  the  same  way  the 
estimate  which  each  one  forms  of  the  preaching  of  the  cross 
depends  upon  his  own  moral  state.  A  man  whose  heart  is  deeply 
corrupt  will  not  believe  in  virtue,  and  one  whose  heart  is  at 
enmity  toward  God  will  reject  the  gospel  as  folly.  There  is 
nothing  in  him  to  which  this  blessed  truth  gives  answer.  With 
this  principle  as  our  guide,  we  are  able  to  particularize. 

First,  The  gospel  is  foolishness  to  those  who  look  at  it  from  the 
standpoint  of  their  own  wisdom.  There  has  always  been  a  genera- . 
tion  of  men  who  have  made  their  own  reason  the  standard  of 
judgment,  and  who  prefer  their  own  wisdom  to  the  wisdom  of 
Gocl.  This  was  the  case  with  the  Jews.  In  one  of  the  following 
verses  the  Apostle  tells  us  that  the  preaching  of  the  cross  was  to 
the  Jews  a  stumbling  block,  and  he  gives  the  reason.  "  The  Jews 
seek  after  a  sign."  Their  constant  demand  was,  "What  sign 
showest  thou?"  That  is,  they  "demanded  external,  supernatural 
evidence  as  the  ground  of  their  faith."  They  fixed  arbitrarily 
upon  certain  signs  which  their  own  wisdom  dictated  as  the 
authentication  of  a  divine  messenger,  and  would  not  accept  any 
others.  They  settled  it  in  their  own  minds  that  the  "  Messiah 
was  to  be  a  glorious  temporal  Prince  who  was  to  deliver  and  exalt 
their  nation."  "  Hence  to  present  to  them  one  who  had  been 
crucified  as  a  malefactor  as  their  Messiah,  was  the  greatest  possi- 
ble insult."  He  was  to  them  "a  stone  of  stumbling  and  a  rock 
of  offense." 


dr.  paxton's  sermon.  12- 


These  Jews  represent  a  permanent  class  of  thinkers  as  common 
in  this  age  as  in  that  of  the  Apostle.  They  demand,  first  of  all, 
as  the  very  condition  of  their  listening  to  the  gospel,  a  certain 
species  of  evidence  which  they  choose  and  designate.  If  such  a 
demand  were  to  be  insisted  upon  in  other  departments  of  knowl- 
edge, it  would  destroy  the  foundation  of  all  reasoning.  Science, 
for  example,  is  based  upon  facts.  The  theory  which  explains  the 
most  facts,  and  is  directly  contradicted  by  none,  is  accepted.  But 
suppose  some  one  should  say,  I  demand  the  explanation  of  causes. 
I  will  not  listen  to  anything  until  you  show  me  the  exact  nature 
of  the  law  by  which  a  cause  produces  its  effects,  or  the  reason  why 
such  and  such  sequences  exist.  This  would  put  an  end  to  all 
reasoning,  because  science  in  its  most  exact  form  is  based  upon 
intuitions  which  cannot  be  demonstrated.  Why  then  permit  the 
application  of  a  principle  to  religion  which  would  not  be  tolerated 
in  science?  And  if  such  arbitrary  reasoning  would  be  scouted 
by  scientists  as  foolishness,  why  permit  the  same  unreasonable 
principle  to  reject  the  preaching  of  the  cross  as  foolishness  ? 

Of  this  same  class,  though  somewhat  different,  were  the  Greeks. 
In  the  twenty-third  verse  the  Apostle  says  that  the  preaching  of  the 
cross  was  to  the  Greeks  foolishness,  and  again  he  gives  the  reason. 
It  was  because  they  sought  after  wisdom.  They  sought  rational 
evidence.  They  would  receive  nothing  as  true  which  they  could 
not  understand  upon  the  ground  of  human  reason.  They  were 
seeking  to  comprehend  the  "first  principles  and  elements  of 
things."  Hence  nothing  could  be  more  irritating  to  these  refined 
speculatists  in  Grecian  wisdom  than  to  be  told  that  they  must 
renounce  their  own  vaunted  wisdom,  and  become,  as  they  con- 
sidered, fools,  that  they  might  be  wise. 

These  Greeks  also  are  a  type  of  a  permanent  class  of  reasoners 
still  existing.  They  say,  "I  do  not  ask  for  signs.  I  put  no  con- 
fidence in  miracles  and  inspiration,  but  I  want  to  see  the  depth 
and  mysteries  of  things  for  myself.  I  want  to  employ  faculty 
and  power  in  finding  out  truth  and  in  forming  a  system  which 
will  commend  itself  to  my  reason  and  be  constructed  by  the 
power  which  God  has  given  me."  Like  the  Greeks,  they  seek 
after  wisdom.  But  here  again  is  a  principle  which  would  be 
utterly  destructive  in  science  and  philosophy.  Who  has  ever 
grasped  the  depth  and  mystery  of  things?  If  we  are  not  willing 
to  believe  until  this  point  is  reached,  we  shall  never  believe  any- 


124  DR.    PAXTONS    SERMON. 


tiling.  In  chemistry,  for  example,  we  see  certain  combinations. 
These  are  facts :  but  what  is  the  connection  of  these  facts,  why 
these  combinations  take  place,  is  a  mystery  beyond  the  region  of 
reason.  All  that  the  chemist  knows  is  a  backward  guess  from 
facts  to  principle.  In  astronomy  the  laws  of  Kepler  express 
facts,  but  the  principle  of  gravitation  by  which  we  strive  to 
explain  these  facts,  lies  outside  of  demonstration.  "We  know 
nothing"  (says  a  philosopher)  "of  that  quality  of  matter,  if  their 
be  such  a  quality,  which  enables  matter  to  attract  matter." 

If,  then,  both  science  and  philosophy  work  upon  principles 
which  lie  outside  the  domain  of  demonstration — why  apply  to 
religion  the  principle  that  Ave  cannot  believe  until  we  have 
grasped  the  depth  and  mystery  of  things?  Is  not  this  foolishness, 
and  shall  we  permit  folly  to  pronounce  the  preaching  of  the  cross 
foolishness  ? 

Secondly.  The  preaching  of  the  cross  is  foolishness  to  those  who 
look  at  it  from  the  standpoint  of  their  conscious  wants.  If  you  propose 
to  bring  a  physician  to  a  man  who  feels  himself  to  be  in  perfect 
health,  he  treats  your  offer  as  foolishness  because  he  has  no  felt 
need  of  the  physicians  skill.  If  a  business  man  receives  a  letter 
from  a  friend  telling  him  to  be  of  good  cheer,  that  he  has  plenty 
of  means  at  command,  and  that  he  will  not  permit  him  to  sink 
into  bankruptcy,  that  man  of  business,  aware  of  no  financial  em- 
barrassment, will  hurl  the  letter  into  the  fire  and  laugh  at  his 
friend's  foolishness.  In  both  these  cases  the  offer  is  treated  as 
foolishness  because  the  recipient  has  no  felt  need  of  such 
assistance. 

For  this  same  reason  the  preaching  of  the  cross  is  often  re- 
garded as  foolishness.  It  offers  a  man  healing  for  his  moral 
malady,  but  he  does  not  feel  that  he  is  sick.  It  offers  him  help 
in  his'  moral  bankruptcy,  but  he  is  not  aware  that  he  owes  to 
justice  ten  thousand  talents  and  has  nothing  to  pay.  Shall  then 
this  ignorance  of  his,  this  want  of  a  felt  sense  of  his  need,  be 
accepted  as  a  proper  standard  of  judgment?  Here  is  a  young 
man  pursuing  reckless  courses.  You  approach  him  tenderly  and 
give  him  advice.  But  no,  he  wants  no  advice.  He  is  too  wise 
to  need  counsel.  Shall  this  want  of  a  felt  consciousness  of  his 
own  need  be  a  reason  for  letting  him  alone?  Nay,  is  not  this 
very  want  the  pitiable  feature  in  the  case?  And  is  not  the  same 
thing  true  of  the  sinner  ?     The  fact  that  he  regards  the  gospel  as 


dr.  paxton's  sermon.  125 


foolishness  is  the  pitiable  feature  in  the  case.  Shall  then  the 
gospel  be  called  foolishness  because  a  man  ignorant  of  his  own 
wants  esteems  it  so  ?  Suppose  the  business  man  to  whom  I  have 
referred  to  be  one  who  is  careless  or  afraid  to  investigate  the 
question  of  his  own  solvency,  and  that  the  friend  who  proffered 
him  assistance  had  means  of  knowing  his  business  standing 
better  than  he  did — should  not  the  fact  of  his  making  such  a 
proffer  startle  the  man  to  think  ?  Instead  of  treating  it  as  fool- 
ishness, should  not  the  fact  of  such  an  offer  coming  from  one  who' 
had  the  means  of  knowing,  be  taken  as  a  proof  that  such  assist- 
ance was  needed?  In  like  manner  when  God,  who  knows  our 
true  moral  state,  sends  us  the  gospel  offer,  should  it  not  rouse 
men  to  think?  If  we  are  not  perishing,  why  this  offer  of  rescue? 
The  strongest  proof  of  our  peril  and  ruin  in  sin,  is  that  God  has 
provided  such  a  remedy.  That  business  man  may  burn  the 
letter  containing  his  friend's  offer  of  help  to-day,  but  to-morrow 
he  may  awake  to  find  ruin  staring  him  in  the  face,  and  then  he 
turns  to  find  that  the  offer  which  he  accounted  as  foolishness  is 
his  only  hope.  Just  so  is  it  that  sinners  are  ever  and  anon 
waking  up  to  find  this  preaching  of  the  cross  which  they 
accounted  foolishness  is  the  only  refuge  set  before  them. 

III.  This  leads  us  to  the  third  point  of  our  text.  There  is 
another  estimate  ivhiclt  men  form  of  the  preaching  of  the  em**.  To 
them  it  is  the  power  of  God. 

If  there  is  any  one  thing  in  this  world  which  we  universally 
recognize  as  the  power  of  God,  it  is  the  lightning.  But  lightning 
neglected  is  God's  power  to  smite,  to  scatter,  to  destroy.  If, 
however,  it  is  appropriated,  accepted,  and  used  as  God's  gift,  it 
becomes  our  slave,  to  do  our  work,  to  light  our  streets,  to  heal  our 
diseases,  to  write  our  letters,  to  send  our  messages  of  love  and 
business  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

In  like  manner  the  gospel  is  the  power  of  God.  If  it  is 
neglected,  it  becomes  God's  power  to  smite,  to  curse,  to  destroy  ; 
but  if  it  is  accepted  and  appropriated,  it  is  the  power  of  God  to 
bless,  to  save,  to  glorify.  "  For  the  preaching  of  the  cross  is  to 
them  that  perish,  foolishness ;  but  unto  us  which  are  saved,  it  is  the 
power  of  God."' 

There  is  one  way,  above  all  others,  in  which  the  gospel  is  the 
power  of  God.  It  is  the  instrument  which  God  has  appointed 
for  the  salvation  of  men.   By  it  He  designs  to  effect  in  mairthat 


12(>  dr.  paxton's  sermon. 


whole  moral  change  which  is  included  in  the  salvation  of  the 
soul.  To  this  end  He  promises  that  He  will  accompany  its  preach- 
ing with  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  thereby  making  it 
"the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  belie veth." 
God  works  by  many  agencies  in  this  world,  but  there  is  no  one 
instrument  by  which  He  has  promised  to  work  as  He  does  by 
the  preaching  of  the  cross.  It  is  the  one  solitary  agency  to 
which  the  power  of  God  is  bound  by  promise.  It  is  a  power 
because  it  is  God's  means  of  communicating  divine  influence  to 
the  souls  of  men.  Hence  the  text  tells  us  that  to  those  "which 
are  saved,  it  is  the  power  of  God."  This  is  the  estimate  that  they 
form  of  it.  They  are  conscious  in  their  experience  of  a  power 
producing  effects  on  them  which  nothing  short  of  divine  power 
can  accomplish. 

The  power  is  felt  in  many  ways. 

It  has  a  power  to  arrest  How  many  will  tell  you  that  they 
were  wandering  away  from  God  like  lost  sheep,  but  the  gospel 
call  followed  them,  arrested  them,  and  brought  them  back  to  the 
cross  of  Christ. 

It  has  a  power  to  awaken.  The  preaching  of  the  cross  finds 
us  slumbering  in  carnal  self-security,  and  awakens  us  like  men 
roused  out  of  a  deep  sleep,  and  seeing  at  a  single  glance  our 
danger,  we  fly  for  safety. 

It  has  a  power  to  convict  Some  men  have  such  a  low,  dull, 
imperfect  moral  consciousness  that  they  have  little  sense  of  sin. 
Others  are  filled  with  doubts.  Their  unbelief  serves  as  a  shield 
against  conviction,  but  the  preaching  of  the  cross  sends  a  sharp 
arrow  into  their  conscience,  or  a  flood  of  light  into  their  minds, 
and  then  sin  starts  into  view,  guilt  and  condemnation  hang  over 
them,  doubt  and  unbelief  take  their  flight,  and  the  gospel  which 
they  had  thought  foolishness  becomes  tidings  of  great  joy. 

So,  too,  this  preaching  of  the  cross  has  a  power  to  comfort,  to 
quicken,  to  consecrate,  to  sanctify,  in  a  word,  it  is  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation.  The  believer  feels  this  in  his  experience. 
Against  nature,  against  sin,  against  temptation,  against  the  world, 
it  has  drawn  him  to  Christ,  and  wrought  in  him  such  peace,  such 
hope,  such  strength,  such  comfort,  that  he  knows  that  nothing 
but  a  divine  power  could  effect  such  blessed  results.  Hence 
while  others  call  the  preaching  of  the  cross  foolishness,  he  says  it 
is  the  power  of  God. 


dr.  paxton's  sermon.  127 


IV.  This  brings  us  to  the  fourth  point  of  the  text,  the  stand- 
point which  this  estimate  indicates.  In  other  words,  the  estimate 
which  every  one  forms  of  the  preaching  of  the  cross  determines 
the  position  in  which  he  stands,  either  as  a  perishing  or  a  saved 
soul.  "  For  the  preaching  of  the  cross  is  to  them  that  perish  fool- 
ishness ;  but  unto  us  which  are  saved  it  is  the  power  of  God." 

First,  those  who  esteem  the  preaching  of  the  cross  foolishness, 
perish.  The  word  translated  perish  does  not  express  a  completed 
act,  but  one  in  the  course  of  completion.  It  does  not  mean  that 
they  have  perished,  but  that  they  are  perishing ;  the  process  of 
perishing  has  begun  and  is  daily  going  on.  The  evil  forces  are 
already  at  work  which,  unless  arrested  by  God,  will  inevitably 
bring  them  to  eternal  death.  They  are  now  beyond  human 
help,  but  are  still  within  the  reach  of  Christ's  salvation,  and  yet 
they  are  daily  going  further  from  it. 

In  common  conversation  we  sometimes  say  of  a  man,  "  he  is 
gone."  "When  a  young  man  has  reached  a  point  at  which  he 
will  not  listen  to  advice,  regards  the  counsels  of  father  and 
mother  and  friends  as  foolishness,  you  look  on  and  say,  that 
young  man  is  ruined,  that  is,  he  is  on  the  way  to  ruin,  the 
forces  which  will  end  in  ruin  are  already  at  work  in  him. 
Just  so  when  a  sinner  reaches  the  point  at  which  he  esteems 
the  preaching  of  the  cross  as  foolishness,  he  is  perishing. 

Let  us  take  another  illustration.  Our  recent  experiences  of 
bitter  cold  has  added  interest  to  an  account  given  in  one  of 
the  papers  of  a  man  who  was  resuscitated  after  well  nigh 
perishing  from  the  cold.  Riding  alone  in  his  sleigh  he  felt 
himself  becoming  chilled,  then  followed  such  severe  pain  and 
discomfort  from  the  cold  that  he  resolved  to  drive  rapidly  and 
stop  at  the  first  house ;  but  before  he  reached  a  stopping  place 
the  pain  ceased  and  he  began  to  feel  such  a  warm  glow  that 
he  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  stop.  This  was  followed  by  an 
exhilaration  of  spirits,  the  horses  seemed  to  go  with  great  speed, 
and  every  object  flew  past  him  with  great  rapidity ;  but  soon 
he  sank  into  drowsiness  and  fell  in  unconsciousness  in  the 
bottom  of  the  sleigh.  Now  these  experiences  were  the  signs 
that  he  was  in  a  perishing  condition.  He  was  not  aware  of  it. 
The  glow  and  the  sense  of  comfort  he  took  as  evidence  that 
he  needed  no  warmth,  but  in  fact  they  were  symptoms  and 
evidences   that  he    was   perishing.       This  is  just  the   Apostle's 


128  dr.  paxton's  sermon. 


idea.  When  a  man  reaches  the  point  of  esteeming  the  preach- 
ing of  the  cross  as  foolishness,  it  is  a  sign  of  a  perishing  soul. 
He  may  not  be  aware  of  it.  He  may  take  it  as  the  sign  of  a 
more  healthful  state  of  mind  ;  but  like  the  warmth  and  drowsi- 
ness of  the  freezing  man,  it  is  the  symptom  and  sign  that  the 
process  of  death  is  going  on.  "  The  preaching  of  the  cross  is  to 
them  that  perish  foolishness." 

.  Secondly,  let  us  cast  a  single  glance  at  the  other  side.  But  to 
them  that  "are  saved  it  is  the  power  of  God."  That  is,  they  who, 
as  the  result  of  experience,  esteem  the  preaching  of  the  cross  as 
the  power  of  God,  are  saved.  The  meaning  is  not  that  the  work 
is  finished,  but  they  are  being  saved,  the  work  is  in  the  process 
of  completion.  Spiritual  forces  are  operating  in  their  souls  which 
eventuate  in  salvation.  The  fact  that  they  feel  this  power  at 
work  in  their  hearts,  and  that  it  causes  them  to  attest  that  the 
gospel  is  a  divine  power,  shows  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  moving 
upon  their  souls,  and  we  know  that  He  who  hath  begun  a  good 
work  in  us  will  perform  it  until  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ. 

In  the  one  case  the  man  is  turning  his  back  to  the  cross  and  is 
going  from  it.  .  He  is  perishing.  In  the  other  case  the  man 
has  his  face  turned  to  the  cross  and  is  going  towards  it.  He  is 
being  saved. 

Now,  my  dear  friends,  the  application  of  this  subject  needs  but 
a  word. 

You  see  how  everything  depends  upon  the  standpoint  which 
we  occupy.  Our  thoughts  about  the  cross  will  tell  us  precisely 
the  position  which  we  hold,  and  to  which  class  we  belong.  They 
who  regard  the  cross  as  foolishness,  or  who  neglect  the  cross,  or 
turn  away  from  the  preaching  of  the  cross  with  indifference,  as  if 
it  were  the  utterance  of  empty  folly,  are  perishing.  They  have 
the  signs  of  death  already  on  them. 

But  those  who,  as  a  matter  of  conscious  experience,  regard  the 
preaching  of  the  cross  as  the  power  of  God,  are  being  saved.  " 

Where  do  you  stand  ?  Are  you,  to-day,  a  perishing  or  a 
saved  soul  ? 


THE   CHURCH   AND    THE    CITY.  129 


MONDAY  AFTERNOON 

April  14th,  1884. 


An  excellent  audience  assembled  at  the  appointed  hour.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  Elliot  E.  Swift,  connected  with  the  early  religious  life 
of  the  city  by  his  father's  work  and  precious  memory,  and  pastor 
of  the  First  Church  of  Allegheny,  which  was  largely  formed 
from  the  First  Church,  presided,  and  conducted  the  devotional 
exercises. 


130  THE   CHURCH    AND    THE   CITY. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  CITY. 


[This  paper  must  be  regarded  as  only  a  substitute  for  the  one  which  had 
been  expected  to  occupy  this  point  in  the  programme.  The  proportions 
of  the  matter  collected  and  papers  already  written  and  partly  printed, 
forbid  at  this  writing  (Aug.  22d,)  any  other  than  the  briefest  treatment  of 
that  for  which  ample  and  interesting  materials  are  at  hand.  It  may  serve 
as  an  index  for  some  future  historian  of  the  church,  to  a  fruitful  field  and 
a  pleasant  task.] 

The  propriety  of  some  recognition  at  this  centennial  celebra- 
tion of  the  relations  between  the  church  and  the  city,  is  evident 
to  the  slightest  consideration.  These  relations  could  not  fail  under 
the  circumstances  to  be  intimate  and  important.  The  church  has 
in  fact  been  characterized  by  its  attachment  to  and  interest  in  the 
city  with  which  it  has  grown  up.  Its  life  began  in  the  very 
year  in  which  the  final  city  plan  was  adopted,  and  it  has  always 
maintained  a  marked  place  among  the  institutions  which  were 
receiving  and  exerting  influence  during  the  entire  century. 
Though  connected,  in  the  first  call,  with  a  church  outside  of  the 
citv,  that  connection  even  was  insufficient  to  nullify  the  distinct 
isolation  of  the  church  (in  its  earliest  years)  from  the  country 
and  its  corresponding  identification  with  the  city.  When  the 
dissolution  of  the  first  pastorate  took  place,  the  difference  of 
opinion  concerning  the  pastor  which  existed  between  the  two 
parts  of  the  united  charge  may  have  served  to  emphasize  the 
feeling  of  estrangement  from  the  country  which  seemed  to  exist. 
And,  as  already  seen,  the  relations  of  the  church  to  the  sur- 
rounding Presbytery,  were  only  such  as  served  to  preserve  its 
ecclesiastical  life,  and  from  these,  even,  it  once  petitioned  the 
General  Assembly  for  relief.    During  the  last  century  it  was  the 


THK    CHURCH    AND    THE    CITY.  131 


only  church  which  seems  to  have  made  any  distinct  impression 
upon  the  life  of  the  city.  And  in  later  times,  after  the  isolation 
ceased,  it  became  more  useful  in  receiving  from  the  country  its 
choicest  influences  and  aiding  to  make  them  effective  among  the 
rapidly  increasing  population. 

1.  There  are  interesting  points  'of  common  origin  which  may 
be  barely  indicated. 

(1.)  Such  a  picture  of  the  world  as  that  given  by  Bancroft 
in  his  recent  History  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
(Vol.  II,  pp.  364-5)  as  existing  at  Washington's  Inauguration, 
(Ap.  1789,)  may  with  profit  be  consulted  as  presenting  the  same 
general  position  as  that  which  obtained  five  years  earlier,  when 
our  century  began. 

(2.)  Many  were  the  interesting  circumstances  of  our  country. 
The  request  by  Congress  for  abandonment  of  State-claims  to 
certain  territory,  was  made  in  1780.  There  had  not  been  a  long 
interval  since  Conolly's  traitorous  effort  against  Pittsburgh,  from 
Lake  Chautauqua  (1782),  and  the  raid  he  instigated  which  cul- 
minated in  the  burning  of  Hannastown,  and  our  infant  city  is 
not  over  clear  of  a  speck  of  Toryism  in  1781.  Indeed,  while 
McMillan  was  preaching  to  our  church  on  Sabbath,  10th  day  of 
September,  1785,  Conolly  was  plotting  in  Boston.  The  land  was 
still  politically  unsettled  and  the  dangers  of  the  experiment  of 
the  confederation  were  beginning  to  be  experienced,  while,  as 
yet,  the  remedy  of  the  Constitution  was  not  visible.  The  com- 
merce of  the  country  was  .so  insignificant  that  in  this  very  year, 
17<S4,  "eight  bales  of  cotton,  shipped  from  South  Carolina,  were 
seized  by  the  customs  authorities  of  England  on  the  ground  that 
so  large  a  quantity  could  not  have  been  produced  in  the  United 
States."  As  our  church  antedates  the  Ecclesiastical  Assembly,  so 
it  preceded  the  Federal  Constitution.  The  civil  relations  of  the 
times  suggest,  in  fact,  the  thought  that  in  no  disorder  can  it  ever 
be  out  of  order  to  carryforward  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  souls 
of  men  ;  but  "if  thou  canst  be  free,  use  it  rather."  Dr.  Herron  was 
born  in  1774,  the  year  of  the  "Declaration  of  Rights  by  the 
Continental  Congress."  [Story  on  the  Constitution,  p.  271.]  Our 
church  was  established  in  the  same  year  a  great  ordinance  was 
passed  concerning  land  "Northwestof  the  Ohio,"  and  nearly  on  the 
same  day — 23d  April,  1784.  Our  first  church  building  was  coinci- 
dent with  the  still  greater  ordinance  of  1787,  setting  apart  the  whole 


Northwestern  Territory,  on  the  borders  of  which  we  were  planted 
and  which  we  were  to  influence  so  constantly  through  emigration, 
through  development  of  commerce,  through  sending  early  mis- 
sionaries, by  contributions  to  build  churches,  and  most  of  all,  by 
the  Theological  Seminary.  That  noble  document  contains 
"  liberty  of  conscience,"  side  by  side  with  the  necessity  of  "  re- 
ligion, education  and  morality  ;"  and  these  added  to  trial  by 
jury  and  habeas  corpus ;  and  judgment  of  peers  before  loss  of 
either  liberty  or  property ;  and  no  taking  from  savages  but  by 
purchase  ;  and  no  deceit  in  trading  with  them  ;  and  regulations 
for  division  into  States  and — no  slavery.  The  coincidence  of  the 
foundation  of  this  church  and  some  of  these  circumstances  may  be 
interpreted  as  a  specimen  act  of  a  wise  Providence  which  secures 
without  any  intention  on  man's  part,  a  supply  of  the  moral  and 
spiritual  forces  needed  for  newly  opened  regions.  Certainly  the 
widening  influence  of  this  church  has  been  constantly  helpful  in 
all  the  directions  marked  out  by  that  great  instrument  and  over 
all  the  region  indicated. 

(3.)  There  are  State-coincidences  worth  noting.  Our  church 
history  is  nearly  coincident  with  the  second  century  of  the  history 
of  our  great  commonwealth.  We  know  something  of  the  influ- 
ences which  helped  to  determine  the  complexion  of  our  State's 
noble  record.  The  cheap  land  this  side  the  mountains  attracted 
the  agricultural  Scotch-Irish,  who  stumbled  by  or  rolled  over  the 
Quaker  and  the  German,  until  they  came  to  rest  where  one  horse 
was  worth  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  a  "good  still  of  one 
hundred  gallons"  would  purchase  the  same  amount  within  "ten 
miles  of  Pittsburgh,  and  in  Kentucky  could  be  exchanged  for  a 
much  larger  tract."  Alas!  if  some  were  land-hungry  others  were 
still-thirsty  (and  some  of  their  descendants  are  thirsty  still).  We 
know  how  they  came  over  the  mountains  in  1784.  [See  Old 
Redstone,  pp.  38,  39.]  We  know  how  they  dressed — for  even  until 
1792  asien  in  Pittsburgh  read,  "skin-dresses-and-breeches-maker." 
Stores  began  to  be  established  only  when  our  log  church  was 
building,  (1787).  Trains  of  pack  horses  were  going  then — two 
men  to  fifteen  horses,  single  file  over  the  tedious  mountain  paths. 
The  first  wagons  came  in  1789  :  and  they  came  so  slowly  that  even 
when  Mr.  Francis  Bailey  came  out,  he  walked  in  advance  of  them. 
But  the  character  of  the  few  who  came  to  plant  the  church  was 
of  more  consequence  than  all  the  circumstances.     Our  church 


THE    CHURCH   AND    THE    CITY.  133 


represented  the  Scotch-Irish,  and   they    were    commissioned   to 
maintain  the  moral  alongside  of  the  material  progress  of  this  end 
of  our  great  State.     Pennsylvania's  significance  in  the  Union  as 
representing  the  most  advanced  standard  of  personal  liberty  was 
greatly  aided  by  the  whole  force  of  the  Scotch-Irish  immigration 
into  the  west ;  and  its  significance  for  peace  and  honesty  in  deal- 
ing with  the  Indians  received  emphasis  also,  but  not  without  some 
grievous  errors  and  sins.     Much  as  has  been  said  concerning  this 
immigration,  there  is  still  room  to  say  that  the  history  of  our 
church  and  of  our  city  (with  that  of  the  surrounding  country ) 
for  the  past  century,  illustrates  the  indisputable  traits  of  "  indom- 
itable energy,  capacity  for  hard  work,  stern  devotion  to  prin- 
ciple and  susceptibility  to  the  tenderer  and  mellowing  influences 
of  religion"  with  which  Thomas  Sinclair  so  lately  credited  them. 
Colonists  themselves  originally,  they  have  been  equal  to  all  the 
exigencies  of  colonization.     Steady  in  the  Scotch  love  of  principle 
and  education,  they  have  shown  also  something  of  Irish  fervor 
and  flexibility.     They  absorb  readily,  but  never  wholly  lose  their 
own  flavor.     They  came  here  fond  of  liberty  and  humanity,  and 
have  grown  fonder  of  them.     And  they  came  to  these  unoccupied 
regions  of  Pennsylvania  as  "the  only  place  on  the  continent 
where  Presbyterians  were  as  good  before  the  law  as  the  best  of 
mankind."      They  came  as  a  "chastened  and  thoughtful  people" 
and   have  been  most  helpful  in  "polishing  the  keystone"  and 
keeping  it  in  place  and  power  ever  since  their  coming.     [See 
Chancellor  Met  Vaeken's  paper  at  Belfast,  July  4th,  1884.]    Early 
and  late,  then  and  now,  our  church-life  owes  much  to  what  God 
had  done  beforehand  in  molding  the  Scotch-Irish. 

( 4.)  How  much  of  interest  attaches  to  the  early  days  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Indian.  The  exposures  and  heroisms  of  the  day  can 
never  be  forgotten.  Col.  Bouquet's  victory  of  1 764  did  not  secure 
lasting  peace.  While  Mr.  Dod  was  preaching  in  1783  or  1784  at 
the  house  of  Caleb  Lindsley,  (in  the  ten  mile  region,)  tidings 
came  of  the  murder  of  a  family  on  Wheeling  Creek.  Services 
closed  immediately  and  several  young  men  started  with  their 
guns  to  bury  the  dead  and  follow  the  Indians  if  practicable. 
Though  our  fort  made  this  point  more  secure,  there  were  constant 
fears.  Then  there  were  Indian  titles  to  adjust  and  "rights  of 
actual  settlers"  to  be  respected.  There  was  trade  to  be  built  up 
with  them,  and  the  dominion  of  law  to  be  asserted  over  them. 


134  THE    CHURCH   AND    THE    CITY. 

General  Harmar's  defeat  in  1790,  and  that  of  General  St.  Clair 
in  1791,  were  alarming.  And  not  until  1794  was  there  a  settled 
condition  of  things.  That  the  church  began  early  to  take  some 
interest  in  special  cases  and  treated  Christianized  Indians  with 
c<  msideration  and  helpfulness,  goes  without  saying ;  but  we  have 
no  records  of  any  devoted  or  contiuous  mission  work  among 
them  before  the  opening  of  this  century.  In  the  church  and  in 
the  state  alike,  the  varied  elements  came  into  a  more  orderly 
arrangement  slowly.  There  was  weakness  in  the  church,  while 
there  was  confusion  in  society  in  several  directions,  unfortunately. 
(5.)  Narrowing  our  circle  still,  we  find  a  glance  necessary  at 
the  city  itself.  Pittsburgh  was  certain  to  be  of  importance  in 
the  history  of  a  century  ago.  It  was  at  the  head  of  navigation 
for  any  extensive  traffic,  and  the  trade  had  begun.  It  was  at  the 
end  of  wagon  roads.  It  must  attract  notice  because  on  the  route 
from  Canada  to  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi.  The  struggle 
between  the  rival  claimants  was  at  least  quadrangular.  The 
Indian  titles  were  by  no  means  considered  extinguished.  France 
claimed  by  right  of  discovery.  England  claimed  by  patents  from 
the  Crown :  and  Pennsylvania's  claim  was  resisted  by  that  of 
Virginia.  The  population  was  composite — peculiar,  according  to 
all  descriptions.  From  the  east  the  Ohio  Company  forms  in 
1748,  and  sends  its  agent,  Christopher  Gist.  On  the  north, 
Dela  Galissoniere  sends  Celoron  in  1749,  to  forestall  any 
attempts  to  wrest  the  young  empire  from  France.  Gist  brings 
eleven  families  to  Mount  Braddock,  (Fayette  county,)  in  1752. 
Pittsburgh  grows  only  more  pivotal  as  the  population  advances. 
It  was  so  at  Washington's  visit  in  1753.  It  was  so  in  1754 
when  occupied  by  Trent  in  February,  and  when  taken  by 
Contrecoeur  in  April  ;  in  1755  as  the  objective  point  of  Brad- 
dock's  unfortunate  expedition  ;  in  the  gloomy  years  that  fol- 
lowed when  Chesterfield  and  Walpole  in  England  and  Presidents 
Davies  and  Burr  lamented  the  favorable  outlook  for  France ;  in 
1757-8,  when  the  genius  of  Chatham  brought  hope  and  the  expe- 
dition of  Forbes  planted  the  Protestant  flag  on  the  spot ;  in  17H2 
at  the  treaty  of  peace  when  "about  four  thousand  inhabitants" 
regained  "  quiet  possession  of  the  lands  they  were  driven  from 
on  the  frontiers  of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia  and  Maryland," 
(Smollett ;)  and  even  to  1764,  when  the  Indians  were  subdued 
by  Col.  Bouquet,  and  even  as  a  point  of  importance  in  1812. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CITY.  135 


It  was  a  glad  day  when  "  the  youthful  hero,  Washington, 
could  point  out  to  the  army  the  junction  of  the  rivers,"  and 
when,  "with  one  voice,"  they  named  the  coveted  spot  Pitts- 
burgh. Bancroft  has  well  said  :  "  It  is  the  most  enduring  trophy  of 
the  glory  of  Wm.  Pitt.  America  afterwards  raised  to  his  name 
statues  that  have  been  wrongfully  broken,  and  granite  monu- 
ments of  which  not  one  stone  remains  upon  another ;  but  long 
as  the  Monongahela  and  the  Allegheny  shall  flow  to  form  the 
Ohio — long  as  the  English  tongue  shall  be  the  tongue  of  freedom 
in  the  boundless  valley  which  these  waters  traverse,  his  name 
shall  stand  inscribed  on  the  gateway  of  the  West."  McMillan 
preached  on  this  spot  in  September,  1785.  Fifteen  years  before, 
(1760,)  the  population  west  of  the  Alleghenies  was  thought  to 
be  four  thousand.  The  census  of  1790,  fifteen  years  after 
McMillan's  sermon,  gave  the  region  fifty  thousand.  Pittsburgh 
was  the  pivot  in  many  things  and  the  key  in  many  other 
things,  and  it  meant  something  when  the  church  was  planted 
at  the  moment  the  city  began  its  most  vigorous  life.  Though 
there  was  a  sort  of  town  plan  in  1765,  and  though  "out-lots  and 
indots"  were  talked  about  at  the  survey  of  Allegheny  in  1780, 
there  were  but  few  houses  gathered  about  the  fort  in  1781. 
It  was  only  in  1784  that  Major  Isaac  Craig  and  Lieutenant 
Colonel  Stephen  Bayard  formed  a  business  partnership  (and  both 
were  closely  identified  with  the  First  Church,)  and  "purchased 
of  the  Penn's  the  first  ground  that  was  sold  within  the  limits  of 
Pittsburgh.  *  *  *  Four  months  after  this  purchase  was  made, 
the  Penn's  laid  out  the  town,  and  Craig  and  Bayard  waived  the 
right  which  they  had  acquired  to  the  undivided  three  acres,  and 
accepted  a  deed,  executed  on  the  31st  of  December,  1784,  for 
thirty -two  lots  of  ground  which  covered  all  the  ground  in  the 
three  acres  except  that  portion  in  the  streets,  and  in  addition  all 
within  the  outworks  of  Fort  Pitt."  Craig  and  Bayard  had 
partners  in  Philadelphia  and  extended  their  business  largely. 
[See  Life  and  Services  of  Major  Isaac  Craig,  by  N.  B.  Craig, 
p.  51.] 

The  church  thus  became  the  only  metropolitan  for  a  large 
region.  It  was  the  only  church  in  a  city  or  town  for  many 
years.  County  seats  had  not  yet  been  selected.  There  was  not 
even  a  village  from  Pittsburgh  to  Brownsville,  and  no  town  on 
the  Ohio  from  Pittsburgh  to  Wheeling — unless  perhaps  Beaver. 


136  THE   CHURCH    AND    THE    CITY. 


We  were  quite  alone  in  our  glory,  indeed,  for  there  was  not  even 
a  mail  from  Pittsburgh  to  Philadelphia  in  1784.  "The  first 
regular  post  from  Pittsburgh  to  Philadelphia,  was  started  in 
1788."  [Old  Redstone,  p.  162.]  But  metropolitan  meant  nothing 
very  large,  though  unique.  The  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  which  began 
with  July  29th,  1786,  said  on  its  ninety-eighth  birthday,  "Pitts- 
burgh was  then  (1786,)  a  frontier  village  composed  of  about  one 
hun'dred  families,  clustered  around  a  fortification,  whose  value  as 
a  strategic  point  had  caused  numerous  conflicts  in  colonial  clays, 
and  the  field  was  not  an  inviting  one  for  journalistic  enterprise. 
The  pack  horse  was  the  only  medium  of  commercial  traffic 
between  East  and  West.  The  Conestoga  wagon  had  not  yet  ap- 
peared upon  the  road,  and  rapid  transit  by  the  'raging  canawl' 
was  undreamed  of.  There  are  more  people  in  Pennsylvania  to- 
day than  there  were  in  the  whole  United  States  in  1790,  when 
the  first  census  was  taken."  (P.  G.,  July  28th,  1883.)  And  in  the 
initial  number  of  the  Gazette,  Judge  Brackenridge  is  quoted  as 
describing  an  island  "  four  or  five  hundred  yards  from  the  head 
of  the  Ohio,"  as  "covered  with  wood,  and  at  the  lowest  part  is  a 
lofty  hill,  famous  for  the  number  of  wild  turkeys  which  inhabit 
it,"  [Craig's  History,  p.  190.]  In  1788,  Dr.  Hidsett,  giving 
account  of  an  emigration  party  from  the  Yough,  passing 
Pittsburgh  in  their  flatboat,  says  it  then  "  contained  four  or 
five  hundred  inhabitants  and  several  stores  ;  and  a  small  garrison 
of  troops  was  kept  at  old  Fort  Pitt.  To  our  travelers,  who  had 
lately  seen  nothing  but  trees  and  rocks,  with  here  and  there  a 
solitary  hut,  it  seemed  to  be  quite  a  large  town.  The  houses 
were  chiefly  built  of  logs  ;  but  now  and  then  one  had  assumed  the 
appearance  of  neatness  and  comfort,"  [O.  R.  p.  355.]  Mr.  G. 
Imlay  wrote  in  1792  :  "The  whole  country  abounds  in  coal, 
which  lies  almost  upon  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The  hills  op- 
posite Pittsburgh,  upon  the  banks  of  the  Monongahela,  which 
are  at  least  three  hundred  feet  high,  appear  to  be  a  solid  body  of  this 
mineral"  Though  that  is  rather  an  exaggerated  estimate  of  the 
coal  veins,  yet  no  language  could  well  be  too  strong  to  show 
fairly  what  these  treasures  of  the  hills  and  the  power  of  the  sit- 
uation, and  the  blessings  of  the  clouds  in  these  rivers  have  done 
for  the  city.  And  side  by  side  with  it,  with  interactions  too  com- 
plicated for  human  skill  to  trace,  has  been  growing  the  church. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CITY.  137 


2.  After  these  matters,  which  show  at  how  many  points  of 
common  interest  the  church  and  the  city  are  in  contact  at  the 
point  of  origin,  some  brief  mention  may  be  made  of  the  connec- 
tion between  the  church  and  the  business  life  of  the  city. 
Of  the  original  trustees  to  whom  the  grant  of  property  was  made, 
all  were  (I  believe,)  business  men,  and  they  certainly  were  then 
the  business  soul  of  Pittsburgh.  One  of  the  earliest  members  of 
the  congregation,  (as  appears  elsewhere,)  was  Col.  John  Gibson, 
uncle  of  the  late  Chief  Justice  Gibson.  It  is  well  ascertained 
that  he  was  one  to  whom  the  reckless  Conolly  made  traitorous 
proposals  attempting  to  bribe  him,  but  utterly  without  success. 
The  first  pastor  was  a  man  of  business  as  well  as  a  busy  man  in 
his  sacred  calling,  and  the  Gazette  of  March  10th,  1787,  records  that 
"  a  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  Pittsburgh  was  held  on  the 
1st  instant,  and  Messrs.  Hugh  Ross,  Stephen  Bayard  and  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Barr  were  appointed  a  committee  to  report  a  plan 
for  building  a  market  house  and  establishing  market  days." 
Mr.  John  Wilkins  may  have  been  too  busy  "  daubing  and  chunk- 
ing "  the  log  church  then  being  built,  to  serve  on  this  committee  : 
but  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  church  and  the  market 
house  came  together  to  Pittsburgh.  The  enterprises  for  opening 
up  of  trade  were  then  largely  conducted  by  the  people  of  our 
church  and  congregation.  They  thought  it  not  necessary  to 
separate  moral  conduct  and  material  gain.  They  helped  to 
lay  the  foundation  for  that  solid  character  which  has  been 
the  just  pride  of  Pittsburgh's  business  men  so  long,  and  which 
will  never  be  lost  unless  the  pernicious  theory  prevails  that  it 
can  be  maintained  without  the  precepts  of  religion,  by  which 
it  was  first  obtained. 

"Fort  Fayette"  was  built  within  the  city  limits,  by  Major 
Isaac  Craig,  and  was  so  named  because  Mr.  Pressley  Neville 
(Major  Craig's  brother-in-law,)  had  served  with  the  philanthropic 
Frenchman  as  "  aide-de-camp."  The  same  indefatigable  officer 
constructed  boats  for  Wayne's  army  in  1792,  and  shipped  provi- 
sions hence  for  its  support  in  1794,  and  superintended  in  1798 
the  construction  of  "  two  row-galleys  which  were  meant  to  be  used 
for  retaliating  measures  on  the  lower  Mississippi  against  Spain, 
the  ally  of  France,"  thus  showing  the  apprehension  caused  away  in 
these  ends  of  the  earth  by  the  singular  vigor  of  the  revolutionary 
government  of  France  and  the  extreme  uncertainty  as  to  what  it 
10 


138  THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CITY. 


might  do  next.  These  were  the  first  sea-going  vessels  ever  built 
at  Pittsburgh,  and  had  two  masts  with  large  lateen  sails,  and 
mounted  one  heavy  gnu."  Another  of  the  early  members  well 
known  in  business  life,  was  Colonel  Samuel  Scott.  Through  him 
the  tradition  reaches  us  that  the  first  preaching  and  first  cele- 
bration of  the  communion  in  1784,  and  thereafter  the  services 
until  the  church  was  built,  were  under  the  trees  which  shaded 
the  spot  afterwards  deeded  to  the  church.  He  was  born  in 
Maryland  and  came  to  the  West  in  1784.  Mrs.  William  Dilworth 
(Sr.)  was  his  daughter,  and  remained  a  member  of  this  church  for 
sixty  years.  Her  husband  was  long  a  prominent  and  successful 
business  man,  and  from  that  well  remembered  home  on  the  hill 
have  gone  many  families  well  known  for  enterprise  and  integrity 
There  have  been  many  descendants  of  Colonel  Scott  of  exemplary 
piety  and  devotedness  in  this  and  other  Presbyterian  churches. 
Much  has  been  said,  in  other  connections,  of  Major  Ebenezer 
Denny,  so  long  a  trustee  and  one  of  the  most  notable  figures  of 
our  early  history,  and  of  General  James  O'Hara,  whose  chandelier 
was  only  one  of  his  gifts  to  the  church.  Their  place  as  citizens 
was  equally  pronounced.  The  first  glass  works  erected  west  of 
the  mountains  was  the  venture  of  General  O'Hara  and  Major 
Isaac  Craig.  The  chandelier  gift  came  at  an  auspicious  time  in 
the  external  affairs  of  the  church.  Improvements  had  just  been 
made,  the  offer  of  consolidation  with  the  Second  Church  had  just 
been  received,  and  the  quaint  note  of  General  O'Hara  to  the 
trustees  deserves  a  place  in  this  record  as  an  indication  of  the 
brightness  of  the  time. 

Pittsburgh,  25th  August,  1818. 
Gentlemen : 

A  chandelier  is  presented  to  you  for  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  token  of  a  glowing  desire  to  promote  the  lustre  of  this 
enlightened  society.     With  sincere  regard, 

By  their  humble  servant, 
(Signed,)  JAMES  O'HARA. 

A  resolution  of  thanks  was  passed  and  a  committee  of  the 
Messrs.  Page,  Liggett,  Simpson,  Scull  and  Ross  was  appointed 
"  to  present  the  above  vote  of  thanks  to  General  O'Hara,  to  re- 
ceive the  chandelier  from  the  General,  and  to  superintend  the 
putting  up  of  the  same  within  the  church."  Mr.  John  Thaw, 
whose  business  career  will  always  remain  a  marked  one  in  our 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CITY.  139 


city  history,  came  into  the  Board  of  Trustees  at  a  time  of  the 
greatest  perplexity.  His  careful  exhibit  of  the  apparently 
fathomless  financial  situation  of  1813,  still  remains,  covering  many 
pages  in  a  characteristically  finished  and  positive  chirograph  v. 
He  was  everywhere  active,  suggestive  and  strong.  His  thorough- 
ness led  to  the  radical  remedy  of  the  then  current  difficulties,  and 
had  it  been  continued  by  successors  other  painful  subsequent  em- 
barrassments might  have  been  prevented  ;  among  them  the  one  in 
which  the  trustees  were  allowed  to  request  the  pastor  to  consent 
to  a  reduction  of  his  salary  from  fifteen  hundred  to  twelve  hun- 
dred dollars,  and  to  accept  also  a  further  donation  of  one  hundred 
dollars  on  large  arrearages  which  were  due  him.  (This  was  in 
1821.) 

General  William  Robinson,  who  became  a  communicant  late 
in  life,  was  always  identified  with  the  church  and  helpful  in  its 
affairs.  When  I  first  saw  him  in  December,  1865,  he  rose  from 
his  couch  saying :  "  Gentlemen,  I  am  this  day  eighty  years  old, 
and  I  am  the  first  white  child  born  in  all  the  territory  north  of 
the  Ohio  and  Allegheny  rivers."  What  a  commentary  on  the 
unprecedented  growth  of  our  country  !  How  enterprising  he  was, 
and  what  a  landmark  his  home  was,  and  what  honors  he  received 
from  his  fellow  citizens,  all  know  who  have  grown  to  maturity 
here. 

Harmar  Denny's  name  and  services  to  the  church,  as  those 
of  Judge  Snowden,  John  Hannen,  Hugh  McClelland,  Francis 
Bailey,  Robert  Beer,  John  Herron,  Frederick  Lorenz,  Samuel 
Spencer,  Alexander  Laughlin,  Joseph  McKnight,  Samuel  Rea, 
and  R.  W.  Poindexter,  have  elsewhere  been  mentioned,  but  these 
faithful  elders  were  also  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  others  in  the 
work  of  the  city  and  of  the  general  community. 

To  their  names  must  be  added  many  which  space  forbids  to 
particularize.  Here  are  Michael  Allen,  and  William  Plummer, 
and  Thomas  Fairman ;  and  earlier,  John  Johnston  and  Dr.  George 
Stevenson  ;  and  then  William  Anderson,  and  James  Irwin,  and 
Boyle  Irwin,  and  Wm.  Hays,  and  Wm.  Steele,  and  John  Darragh, 
and  Wm.  McCandless,  and  David  Pride,  and  Robert  Simpson,  and 
Wm.  Lecky,  and  Samuel  Bailey,  and  Benjamin  Page,  and  Wm. 
Graham,  and  John  Arthurs,  and  James  Brown,  and  Wm.  Blair,  and 
S.  R.  Johnston,  and  Richard  Edwards,  and  Daniel  Bushnell,  and 
Benjamin  Darlington,  and  Alexander  Brackenridge,  and  James 


140  THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CITY. 


Dalzell,  and  Jno.B.  McFadden,  and  A.M.Wallingford,and  Jacob 
Painter,  and  James  Laughlin,  and  John  P.  Pears,  and  John 
McD.  Crossan,  and  Lewis  Peterson,  with  Messrs.  Sample,  and 
Cooper,  and  Breed,  and  Albree,  and  Dawson,  and  Thomas  Clark. 
How  many  of  these  have  "wrought  righteousness"  and  set 
forward  large  interests  at  the  same  time.  Nearly  all  of  them 
were  trustees  in  the  church  as  well  as  all  thoroughly  trusted 
outside  of  the  church.  What  infinite  variety  of  character  they 
have  manifested,  but  almost  without  exception  founding  all  upon 
humble  faith  in  the  word  of  God  and  in  the  work  of  Christ.  How 
hard  it  is  to  turn  away  without  attempting  to  embalm  in  this 
little  volume  some  of  the  striking  characteristics,  natural  and 
religious,  of  this  long  list  of  Christian  citizens.  The  mutual  debt 
of  city  to  church  and  of  church  to  city,  can  never  be  over- 
stated, and  the  mutual  honor  of  the  relations  of  the  past  ought 
never  to  be  forgotten.  The  greatest  of  all  the  citizens,  however, 
was  probably  the  great  pastor,  Dr.  Herron.  His  coming  was 
coincident  with  the  launching  of  the  first  steamboat  by  Roosevelt, 
Livingston  and  Fulton.  Steam  power  and  spiritual  power  went 
well  together,  as  both  city  and  church  went  rapidly  forward.  Ad- 
mirably does  Dr.  Paxton's  Memorial  Discourse  say  :  "Dr.  Herron 
was  a  public  man  of  the  highest  type.  In  the  earlier  history  of 
the  city  he  took  a  lively  interest — in  every  mill  and  factory  that 
was  erected — in  every  enterprise  to  promote  the  convenience  of 
the  people  or  the  adornment  of  the  city — in  the  opening  of  new- 
avenues  of  trade,  and  in  the  securing  of  new  business  and  com- 
mercial advantages  to  the  community.  He  was  one  of  the 
'fathers'  of  this  city,  and  no  man  loved  it  better  or  did  more  to 
promote  its  highest  welfare."     [pp.  129, 130.] 

The  times  of  commercial  prosperity  and  church  growth  did 
not  always  coincide,  but  the  general  lines  of  progress  have  been 
marvelously  parallel  in  the  church  and  in  the  city.  And  this 
whole  recital  of  eminent  citizenship  in  the  old  First  Church  is 
full  of  instruction.  It  shows  what  a  really  and  spiritually  "live" 
church  may  be  able  to  do  for  a  city.  It  shows  that  many 
of  the  best  business  opportunities  built  up  by  principled  fathers 
may  be  lost  by  vicious  or  nerveless  descendants,  and  thus  shows 
character  to  be  better  than  inheritance.  It  demonstrates  the 
friendliness  of  real  principle  to  permanent  success,  and  repeats 
that  "godliness  hath  the  promise  of  this  life." 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CITY.  141 


3.  The  First  Church  touched  the  city's  early  civil  and  judi- 
cial life  in  a  remarkable  way.  The  grant  of  property  shows  its 
patriotism  in  the  fact  that  six  of  the  original  trustees  had  been 
officers  in  the  United  States  Army.  When  the  boundary  ques- 
tion was  mooted  and  the  conflict  as  to  jurisdiction  raged,  Captain 
(afterwards  General)  Neville  seized  and  held  with  troops  the 
fort,  that  he  might  guard  against  the  machinations  of  Lord 
Dunmore  and  his  confederate  Conolly.  This  was  done  the  very 
day  after  McMillan  preached  on  this  spot — Sabbath,  September 
10th,  1785.  Through  that  whole  conflict  the  influence  of  our 
church,  and  of  the  Scotch-Irish  in  the  surrounding  churches, 
was  directly  in  favor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  there  was  great  jov 
here  when  the  war  of  the  Revolution  ended  all  danger  of  Vir- 
ginia's usurpation.  The  year  of  our  birth  was  the  year  when  the 
boundary  line  was  finished,  and  our  Presbytery  aided  •  in  dis- 
tributing the  160  copies  of  the  Scriptures  which  were  brought  on 
by  Dr.  Ewing,  of  the  Boundary  Commission. 

When  Allegheny  county  was  formed  in  1788,  it  covered  a 
very  large  territory,  and  it  is  singular  that  in  the  first  Court  of 
Quarter  Sessions,  held  December  16th  of  that  year,  the  entire 
bench  was  composed  of  First  Church  people.  Geo.  Wallace  was 
President  Judge,  while  James  Scott,  John  Wilkins  and  John 
Johnston  were  the  Associates.  We  know  how  familiar  these 
names  are  in  our  earliest  church  history.  The  first  term  of 
Common  Pleas  was  held  March,  1789;  and  also  before  "George 
Wallace  and  his  assistants."     [Judge  White,  Ap.  83.] 

When  the  Courts  were  organized  under  the  Constitution  of 
1790,  Judge  Alexander  Addison  was  appointed  President  Judge. 
His  commission  bore  the  date  of  August  23d,  1791.  How  closely 
this  eminent  man  was  connected  with  our  church  you  all  re- 
member. He  had  probably  preached  here  often  while  awaiting 
final  decision  of  his  application  for  ordination  at  the  hands  of  our 
Presbytery.  The  earliest  records  of  our  church,  those  of  the 
trustees,  beginning  April  27th,  1801,  are  in  his  handwriting  as 
Secretary  of  the  Board,  and  "the  Scheme  of  the  Meeting  House," 
carefully  drawn  and  numbered,  is  the  work  of  his  hand.  He  ap- 
peared as  our  representative  in  the  protest  presented  to  the 
Synod  in  1802.  He  was  a  member  of  the  building  com- 
mittee for  the  edifice  of  1804.  "He  resided  in  Pittsburgh  until 
his  death,  and  took  an  active  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  First 


142  THE    CHURCH   AND    THE    CITY. 


Church,  and  was  its  efficient  friend  and  supporter."  [Old  Red- 
stone, p.  340.]  What  Judge  Addison  became  to  the  community 
is  frankly  acknowledged  on  all  sides.  I  deeply  regret  that  the 
particulars  of  his  personal  history  and  characteristics  and  public 
services  and  bravery  against  a  false  public  opinion,  (as  manifested 
in  the  heroic  charge  of  September  1st,  1794 — during  the  Whiskey 
Insurrection,)  cannot  here  be  given.  But  a  monograph  would  be 
necessary  to  do  the  subject  justice,  and  it  should  be  written. 
Room  must  be  made  for  this  incident,  related  by  the  Rev. 
Richard  Lea,  (in  a  letter  to  the  niece  of  Judge  Addison,  Miss 
Eliza  Darlington.)  "He  was  deputed  by  General  Washington 
to  settle  matters  relating  to  the  Whiskey  Insurrection.  He  col- 
lected evidence  about  Washington,  Pa.,  and  started  toward 
Bedford  to  report  to  his  chief,  without  a  guard,  carrying  his 
valuable  documents  in  his  saddle  bags  behind  himself  on  horse- 
back. The  leaders  of  the  insurrection  followed  him  at  a  distance 
into  Westmoreland  county,  until  they  knew  he  had  lodged  with 
his  friend,  Judge  Findley,  when  they  halted  near  the  house, 
watched  until  all  the  lights  were  extinguished,  and  resolved  to 
have,  at  early  dawn,  either  his  papers  or  his  life,  or  both. 
Addison  could  not  sleep,  and  not  wishing  to  arouse  any  of 
the  family,  arose  after  midnight,  saddled  his  horse  and  continued 
his  journey.  Before  daylight  the  'whiskey  boys'  surrounded 
the  house,  feeling  sure  of  their  victim.  Morning  came ;  they 
entered  the  house.  Judge  Findley  trembled  for  his  friend. 
But  what  was  the  chagrin  of  the  pursuers  to  find  the  guest- 
chamber  empty  !  They  swore  at  the  household,  bayoneted  the 
beds,  broke  into  closets,  etc.  At  last,  rushing  to  the  stable,  to 
the  infinite  delight  of  the  host  and  family — the  horse  was 
gone.  The  tracks  were  plain  enough,  but  they  could  guess 
that  hours  must  have  elapsed  since  he  started,  they  knew  he  was 
armed,  and  that  he  must  be  near  the  settlements.  The  only 
unconcerned  one  was  Addison  himself.  He  finished  his  busi- 
ness at  Bedford,  and  learned,  upon  his  return,  of  his  narrow 
escape." 

In  connection  with  the  same  insurrection,  much  might  and 
ought  to  be  written  concerning  the  brave  part  in  aid  of  the 
lawful  authorities  taken  by  General  John  Neville,  already 
alluded  to.  His  acceptance  of  the  office  of  Inspector  drew 
upon  him — once  most  popular — the   hatred   of  many  rash  and 


THE    CHURCH   AND    THE    CITY.  143 


inconsiderate  men.  He  was  attacked  in  his  house  by  thirty- 
six  armed  men,  but  with  his  negro  servants  so  defended  it 
that  the  mob  left  with  six  wounded,  and  one  of  them  mortally. 
Subsequently  his  residence  was  burned  to  the  ground,  and  his 
own  life,  with  difficulty,  saved.  Our  general  church  authori- 
ties were  true  throughout  to  the  government,  as  would  witness 
their  action  if  it  could  be  quoted. 

Nor  might  less  be  said  of  James  Ross's  prominence  and 
power  in  our  courts  and  in  the  community  in  general;  and 
notice  should  be  made  of  the  brilliant  Sidney  Mountain 
and  others,  as  has  been  elsewhere  made  of  Judge  Snowden. 
Here,  as  everywhere,  the  influence  of  the  church  has  been 
for  the  stability  of  the  times,  for  the  just  and  the  true. 
The  very  latest  occasion  at  which  any  special  opportunity 
was  given,  came  in  connection  with  the  riots  of  1877,  at  which 
time  your  pastor  (side  by  side  with  the  Catholic  Bishop 
Tuigg,)  was  sent  as  part  of  the  citizens'  committee,  to  endeavor 
to  reach  the  ear  of  the  mob,  at  that  moment  about  to  attack  and 
burn  the  station  house  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad.  We  were 
only  there  long  enough  to  learn  the  old  lesson,  that  mobs  will 
not  reason,  and  to  regret  more  deeply  than  ever  that  there  should 
be  so  little  left  of  the  Sabbath  for  railroad  employes  and  so 
slender  a  conscience  as  to  obedience  to  human  law  as  one 
result  of  disobedience  to  divine  law.  But  the  final  results 
proved,  as  every  disturbance  in  these  borders  has  proved,  that 
society  is  solidly  organized  and  that  the  laws  must  prevail. 

4.  Something  has  been  already  said  of  the  church's  efficiency 
in  advancing  educational  interests.  We  have  also  a  literary  record, 
to  which  a  single  word  is  due.  It  began  with  the  writings  of  the 
Rev.  Joseph  Stockton,  so  useful  to  the  youth  of  two  generations 
ago.  It  was  continued  in  the  writings  of  Hugh  Henry  Brack- 
enridge,  concerning  whom  I  adopt  almost  entire,  the  notice  of 
Mr.  Wm.  Darlington,  in  the  Memorial  Volume  of  Western  Penn- 
sylvania Presbyterianism,  (p.  272.)  "  He  was  born  in  Scotland  in 
1748,  and  came  to  America  when  a  child,  with  his  parents,  who 
settled  in  York  county.  Entered  Princeton  College  at  the  age 
of  eighteen,  and  after  graduating,  was  for  some  time  a  tutor. 
Studied  divinity.  In  1777  he  was  chaplain  to  a  regiment  in  the 
Continental  Army.  Studied  law  under  Judge  Chase,  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.     He  came  to  Pittsburgh  in 


144  THE   CHURCH   AND    THE    CITY. 


1781.  Iii  1786  he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature.  In  1792,  the 
first  two  volumes  of  his  celebrated  work,  'Modern  Chivalry,'  were 
published  at  Philadelphia :  the  third  volume  was  published  in 
Pittsburgh,  in  1793.  It  was  printed  at  the  office  of  the  Pittsburgh 
Gazette,  by  John  Scull,  [who,  by  the  way,  was  a  pew  holder  in 
the  First  Church  in  1801,]  and  was  the  first  book  printed  and 
published  west  of  the  mountains.  The  fourth  and  last  volume 
was  not  published  until  1797,  at  Philadelphia,  the  Whiskey  In- 
surrection having  occurred,  concerning  which  his  next  book  was 
written,  in  1795.  He  was  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  for  sixteen  years,  to  the  time  of  his  death  at  Carlisle,  in 
1816.  He  wa,s  a  man  of  great  scholastic  and  legal  attainments, 
eccentric,  witty,  and  independent." 

He  was  followed  by  the  one  who  became  the  historian  par 
excellence  of  the  city  he  adorned,  Neville  B.  Craig.  The  follow- 
ing notice  is  also  by  another  hand : 

NEVILLE    B.    CRAIG. 

Neville  B.  Craig  was  the  son  of  Maj.  Isaac  Craig,  and  grandson 
of  Gen.  John  Neville,  both  of  the  Revolutionary  Army. 

He  was  born  in  Bouquet's  Redoubt,  March  29th,  1787.  After 
preparing  at  the  Pittsburgh  Academy,  he  entered  Princeton  in 
1805,  but  did  not  complete  his  course.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  August  13th,  1810.  His  law  partners  were  Walter  Forward 
and  Henry  M.  Watts.  He  married  Miss  Jane  A.  Fulton,  May 
1st,  1811.  He  was  the  first  City  Solicitor,  holding  the  office 
from  1821  to  1828  or  1829,  and  Clerk  of  Select  Council  from 
1821  to  1825. 

He  owned  and  edited  the  Pittsburgh  Gazette,  from  1829  to 
1841,  making  it  a  daily,  the  first  in  the  city.  About  this  time 
he  was  elected  to  the  Legislature.  Subsequently  an  investi- 
gation was  made  in  regard  to  members  supplying  themselves 
illegally  with  merchandise,  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  showed 
that  "every  member  except  Mr.  Craig,  of  Allegheny,  had  re- 
ceived a  share." 

His  works  are  authorities  on  local  history.  They  are :  "  The 
Olden  Time,"  1846-7  ;  "History  of  Pittsburgh,"  1851  ;  "Memoir 
of  Maj.  Robert  Stobo,"  and  "Life   and  Services  of  Maj.  Isaac 


THE    CHURCH   AND    THE    CITY.  145 


Craig,"  1854;  and  "Exposure  of  Misstatements  in  H.  M.  Brack- 
enridge's  History  of  the  Whiskey  Insurrection,"  1859. 

He  united  with  the  church  shortly  before  his  death,  which 
took  place  March  3,  1863. 

Pittsburgh's  literature  is  not  voluminous  in  quantity,  but  is  of 
a  high  rank  in  quality,  and  the  writers  who  have  been  mentioned, 
with  many  contributors  to  the  daily  and  weekly  press  who  might 
be  mentioned,  (chief  among  them,  the  Banner,  with  its  editor,  the 
Rev.  James  Allison,  D.  D.)  have  done  much  to  mold  the  genera- 
tions as  they  came  upon  the  stage,  and  especially  to  keep  the 
later  ones  from  forgetting  the  hardships  and  exertions  and  solid 
attainments  and  noble  characters  of  the  generations  which  had 
preceded  them. 

5.  The  church's  portion  in  the  city's  life  of  charity  scarcely 
needs  mention.  Early  gifts  were  made  to  build  churches.  The 
Hospital  grounds  in  one  of  our  cities  and  the  site  for  the  Orphanage 
in  the  other,  were  given  by  members  of  the  First  Church,  and 
the  Presidency  of  the  Orphanage  rested  upon  the  heart  of  one  of 
our  noblest  women  for  thirty-five  years.  Very  early  the 
"Humane  Society"  was  formed,  and  largely  from  our  church, 
which  did  not  wait  for  modern  altruism  to  teach  the  lesson  of 
love  to  one's  neighbor.  Its  design  was  to  "  alleviate  the  distress 
of  the  poor,  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  hungry,  to  administer 
comfort  to  the  widow,  the  orphan  and  the  sick."  Sabbath  School 
scholars  were  early  sought  out  and  clothed  and  helped.  In  all 
sorts  of  charities,  whether  corporate,  or  by  legacy,  or  by 
church  contributions,  or  by  City  Missions,  or  individual  relief,  or 
by  the  last  and  best  organized  system — the  "Society  for  the  Im- 
provement of  the  Poor,"  the  First  Church  has  been  an  aid. 

6.  We  press  closer  yet  to  the  connections  of  the  church  and  the 
city  when  we  recall  the  efforts  of  the  first  to  mold  the  morals  of 
the  second.  Pittsburgh's  reputation  a  century  ago  was  not  envi- 
able. It  had  the  characteristics  of  frontier  towns  and  not  of  the 
rural  population.  It  has  been  thought  that  some  of  the  felons 
and  undesirable  citizens  annually  shipped  from  England,  and 
there  were  many  of  them,  congregated  about  this  point.  [Veech's 
Secular  History,  etc.  p.  309.]  They  are  said  to  have  been  the 
class  which  became  violent  in  the  Virginia  usurpations  and  in  the 
Whiskey  Insurrection,  and  otherwise  a  stain  to  the  good  name  of 


146  THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CITY. 


the  Scotch-Irish.  Whipping  posts,  and  clipping  of  ears,  and 
pillories  with  liberty  to  pelt  the  pilloried  with  stones  (one  a  piece) 
were  thought  necessary  until  1788.  Even  around  us  the  vicinity 
is  described  as  having  "an  immense  amount  of  ungodliness  and 
profanity — sufficient  to  have  appalled  the  stoutest  heart."  [Old 
Redstone,  p.  138.]  Mr.  Brackenridge,  when  pleading  for  a 
Christian,  rather  than  a  Presbyterian  Society  to  be  incorporated, 
did  it  because  he  saw  the  need  of  a  church  which  would  reach 
the  people — "the  loss  of-  which  would  be  great,  as  religion  was  of 
the  highest  use  in  keeping  up  order  and  enforcing  the  practice  of 
morality" — an  object  Mr.  B.  had  much  at  heart.  Upon  this 
mission,  in  the  midst  of  many  families  constituted  without  mar- 
riage, and  surrounded  by  desecrated  Sabbaths  and  abounding 
profanity,  and  all  the  worse  amusements,  (theati'es  excepted,)  to 
which  even  during  war  the  isolated  garrison  thought  itself  obliged 
to  resort,  and,  above  all,  flowed  in  upon  and  around  Avith  and 
overflowed  by  whiskey,  the  infant  church  began  its  mission. 
And  at  first  its  work  was  hindered  by  its  own  imperfect  standards 
and  practice.  But  what  a  work  it  has  accomplished.  The  good 
took  heart  from  the  first.  Domestic  purity  made  its  claims  heard. 
The  gospel  was  found  to  be  laden  with  the  blessings  of  peace 
and  good  order.  Temperance  was  furthered  in  its  own  time. 
The  Sabbath  was  respected.  There  was  a  steady  fire  from  the 
pulpit  and  a  growing  conformity  to  high  standards  in  the  pews : 
and  city  mothers  began  to  do  as  the  country  mothers  are  de- 
scribed as  doing — "trained  their  children  to  fear  God,  to  tell  the 
truth,  to  reverence  the  Sabbath,  to  work  hard,  and  to  be  honest 
in  their  dealings."  [Old  Redstone,  p.  109.]  There  has  never 
been  a  time  in  which  the  city  could  have  spared  the  First  Church 
as  an  element  in  its  moral  life.  And  when,  after  an  enviable 
standard  of  social  purity  and  upright  dealing,  and  respect  for  the 
Sabbath  had  been  gained,  the  people  began  to  turn  away  from  the 
stricter  views  (largely  through  foreign  influences,)  the  symptoms 
of  moral  weakening  began  to  appear  and  the  voices  of  warning 
were  heard  again  from  this  pulpit,  it  would  have  been  well  had 
they  been  thought  to  have  been  less  of  croaking  and  more  of 
prophecy.  Unfortunately,  now  there  can  be  no  mistaking  it. 
Despite  all  the  progress  of  the  past,  the  First  Church  enters  the 
work  of  her  second  century  for  the  morals  of  Pittsburgh  under 
some  circumstances  of  as  great  difficulty  as  any  that  existed  in 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    CITY.  147 


1784.  Some  amusements  are  worse.  Social  impurities  are  again 
increased.  Sabbath  newspapers,  and  Sabbath  gardens,  and  Sab- 
bath grog  shops  have  created  a  current  that  flows  so  strongly 
away  from  all  the  means  of  grace  themselves,  that  you  who 
work  here  in  time  to  come  must  be  as  earnest  as  they  who  would 
save  the  life  of  a  man  rushing  by  upon  a  piece  of  driftwood  in 
one  of  the  spring  freshets.  But  the  past  contains  all  the  encour- 
agement the  present  needs.  The  God  of  that  past  still  reigns. 
The  better  nature  of  man  can  be  awakened  and  sinful  nature  can 
be  renewed.  With  no  thought  of  fear,  but  also  with  no  thought 
of  ease,  the  dear  old  church  must  brace  itself  to  do  again  what 
it  so  powerfully  helped  once  before  to  do. 

7.  And  now  that  which  is  most  important  of  all — the  relations 
of  the  church  to  the  religious  life  of  the  city,  may  be  treated  most 
briefly  of  all,  because  it  has  received  so  much  distinct  attention  in 
the  exercises  as  a  whole.  Here  might  well  be  unfolded  the  relation 
of  our  church  to  the  occasional  Roman  Catholic  ministrations  and 
the  irregular  German  worship  which  preceded  it.  Sufficient  to 
say  that  the  first  real  organization  was  our  own,  and  the  first 
house  of  worship,  and  that  we  generously  contributed  to  the 
other  two  when  they  came  to  seek  a  local  habitation  and  a 
name.  Then  should  come  the  exacter  history  than  has  yet 
been  given  of  every  bud  and  branch  which  has  shot  forth 
from  the  old  stem,  with  some  estimate  of  their  own  growth  and 
aggregate  results  of  all  for  the  denominational  strength.  Then 
should  follow  a  careful  history  of  the  churches  of  other  denomi- 
nations which  have  grown  up  beside  us,  with  the  just  analysis  of 
growing  districts  and  populations,  and  the  whole  result  for  the 
kingdom  of  God.  But  all  this,  sadly  enough,  must  be  now  re- 
linquished, as  well  as  any  sufficient  account  of  the  whole  work  of 
distinctively  City  Missions,  which,  with  its  invitations,  its  visits, 
its  gathered  statistics,  its  discovered  families,  its  faithful  workers, 
and  its  blessed  results,  might  well  form  a  little  chapter  in  our 
church's  history  by  itself. 

Suffice  it  now  to  say,  that  just  in  proportion  as  the  influence  of 
the  church  upon  the  city  has  been  definitely  religious,  in  that 
proportion  exactly  has  it  proved  to  be  efficient  in  all  that  was  of 
good  report  among  men.  Then  has  it  taken  hold  upon  men  to 
reform  them,  when  it  has  grasped  their  hearts  with  the  gospel  to 
lead  them  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.     Then  has  it  done  most 


148  THE    CHURCH    AND   THE    CITY. 


good  when  it  has  lived  the  most  pure  and  upright  life :  and  then 
has  its  life  been  brightest  when  its  devotion  was  deepest  and  its 
spirituality  highest.  Least  of  all  could  the  city  have  spared  the 
First  Church  in  its  religious  influence.  Let  there  be  an  echo 
here,  as  I  bring  this  last  writing  to  a  close,  of  the  noble  utterance 
of  the  venerable  pastor's  last  sermon  in  the  old  brick  church. 
"  If  men  are  ever  to  be  saved  from  sin  here  and  suffering  here- 
after, it  must  be  by  the  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ," — of 
this  let  the  church  of  Christ  never  be  ashamed.  To  bear  that 
which  is  distinctively  the  source  of  all  true  religion,  the  offer  of 
redeeming  grace,  to  win  men  thus  from  darkness  to  light,  and  to 
bring  them  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God,  is  still  the  com- 
mission of  the  dear  old  church. 

May  the  Saviour  who  wept  over  Jerusalem  and  then  died  for 
it,  lead  in  the  second  century  to  such  consecration,  devotion  and 
success  as  will  couple  in  still  stronger  and  more  grateful  recol- 
lection— The  Church  and  the  City. 

[Mr.  Scovel,  when  called  upon  for  the  City  History,  explained  the  cir- 
cumstances which  had  defeated  the  preparation  by  another  of  that 
important  paper,  promised  to  prepare,  if  possible,  something  of  the  same 
nature  for  the  centennial  volume  (now  printed  above)  and  read  the  fol- 
lowing Historical  Fragments :] 


HISTORICAL    FRAGMENTS.  149 


HISTORICAL    FRAGMENTS. 


Of  these  fragments,  the  first  was  an  incidental  contribution 
made  by  Mr.  Wm.  Darlington,  whose  early  years  were  connected 
with  the  First  Church,  and  whose  notes  on  its  earliest  history,  as 
given  in  the  Memorial  (Centenary)  Volume  of  Western  Presby- 
terianism,  are  of  such  value.  Alluding  to  a  certain  charge 
concerning  the  first  pastor's  irregular  administration  of  baptism, 
which  was  prominent  in  the  trial  before  Presbytery,  Mr.  Dar- 
lington says :  "  General  Gibson's  child,  referred  to  therein,  I 
believe  was  his  Indian  child — Polly  Gibson,  well  known  in  Pitts- 
burgh. Her  father  had  her  well  taken  care  of  and  respectably 
reared.  The  late  General  William  Robinson  told  me  that  he 
knew  her  very  well.  It  is  interesting  to  remember  the  fact  that 
this  child  was  the  only  survivor  of  the  infamous  massacre  of 
the  celebrated  Chief  Logan's  family,  in  April,  1774,  on  the 
Ohio,  near  Yellow  Creek,  (below  Wellsville.)  Gibson's  Indian 
wife  was  Logan's  sister,  who  was  shot  through  the  head  by  a 
white  savage,  at  a  few  feet's  distance.  The  child  at  her  bosom 
fell,  and  Avas  the  only  one  rescued  in  the  canoe.  This  murder 
was  the  main  cause  of  the  bloody  Indian  war,  known  as  Dun- 
more's  or  Cresap's  war.  The  celebrated  speech  of  Logan,  about 
which  there  has  been  so  much  controversy  as  to  its  genuineness, 
was  delivered  to  this  same  General  John  Gibson.  He  had  lived 
for  many  years  among  the  Indians,  as  a  trader,  was  Colonel  of  a 
regiment  during  the  Revolution,  after  its  close  resided  in  Pitts- 
burgh, was  an  Associate  Judge  of  the  Courts  of  this  county, 
and  died  at  the  house  of  his  son-in-law,  Geo.  Wallace,  at  Brad- 
dock's  Fields,  in  1824.  He  was  uncle  to  the  late  Chief  Justice 
Gibson."     *     *     *     * 

To  return.  As  the  First  Church's  first  building  was  erected 
in  the  summer  of  1786,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  congregation 
had  an  express  promise  from  the  proprietaries  of  a  gift  of  the 
ground  whenever   an   act   of   incorporation   should   be  passed. 


150  HISTORICAL    FRAGMENTS. 


Without  some  such  promise  or  agreement,  assuredly  John  Wil- 
kins,  Mr.  Barr  and  the  rest  would  not  have  entered  upon  ground 
from  which  they  would  be  liable  at  any  time  to  be  ejected  with  the 
loss  of  the  building,  to  say  nothing  of  their  liability  for  trespass. 
This  is  quite  obvious.  Should  I,  in  my  researches  amongst  the 
Penn  papers,  in  our  Historical  Library  at  Philadelphia,  find  any- 
thing at  all  about  it,  I  will  communicate  it  to  you. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Barr  seems  to  have  been,  for  that  time,  a 
man  of  considerable  pecuniary  means,  as  he  purchased  a  number 
of  town  lots  from  the  Penns.  In  one  of  the  deeds  he  is  styled 
'The  Reverend  Samuel  Barr,  clerk,'1  in  accordance  with  the  old 
English  custom." 


The  second  fragment  read  was  an  account  of  the  "falling  ex- 
perience" as  witnessed  on  one  occasion  in  the  First  Church, 
and  the  only  occasion.  The  recital  was  given  by  Mrs.  Eichbaum, 
(identified  in  her  earliest  years  with  the  First  Church,)  to  whose 
clear  memory  our  Sabbath  School  history  is  so  much  indebted, 
and  was  substantially  as  follows : 

The  first  and  only  case  occurred  in  1802.  It  was  at  a  com- 
munion season.  Pastor  Steele  was  being  assisted  in  the  services 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Porter.  The  latter  had  seen  genurhe  cases  of 
conversion  accompanied  by  such  strange  phenomena,  and  was 
disposed  to  regard  the  matter  favorably.  Symptoms  of  moaning 
were  heard  from  a  woman  by  the  pastor  during  prayer  by  Mr. 
Porter.  The  former  immediately  interrupted  the  prayer — saying, 
"Remove  the  person  who  is  disturbing  the  congregation."  But 
the  latter  answered — "Not  so  ;  the  Word  is  her  only  comfort,"  etc. 
The  woman  presently  fell  in  the  aisle.  But  before  there  could 
be  much  ado  made  over  her,  Major  Ebenezer  Denny  and  Mr. 
Johnston  carried  her  out  of  the  door. 

The  second  case  occurred  in  the  Court  House,  where  there  was 
preaching  by  Mr.  Porter.  The  same  woman,  who  seemed  not 
averse  to  the  experience,  fell  again  and  was  considerately  laid  on 
the  table — the  council-table.  At  the  request  of  some  one, 
"Polly,"  the  bound  servant  of  Mr.  Johnston's  family,  (Mr.  J.  was 
Mrs.  Eichbaum's  father,)  went  forward  to  sustain  the  head  of  the 
fainting  woman  in  her  lap.  The  meeting  was  dismissed  at  last 
and  Polly  was  left  still  holding  the  head  of  the  apparently  un- 
conscious woman.     Mrs.  Eichbaum,  then  a  little  girl,  was  sent 


HISTORICAL    FRAGMENTS.  151 


from  home  with  another  person  to  bring  Polly.  Mr.  Porter  was 
rhapsodizing  over  the  supposed  trance,  and  thought  the  woman 
probably  in  communion  with  the  Supreme  and  insensible  to  pain. 
Mrs.  E.  found  a  pin  and  being  seated  beside  Polly  reached  be- 
hind her  and  gave  a  "prod"  with  it.  The  woman  proved  to  be 
not  so  unconscious  as  she  seemed  and  Polly  was  very  soon  relieved 
and  taken  away  home.  The  woman  finally  turned  out  a  dis- 
solute character.  "Falling"  did  not  obtain  in  Pittsburgh.  [Re- 
lated to  S.  F.  S.,  February  24th,  1871.] 


A  third  fragment  was  this  : 

Mrs.  Mary  Cochrane  (who  died  at  the  advanced  age  of  90,)  told 
me  that  in  1801  there  was  no  house  on  the  Allegheny  side  of  the 
river,  except  the  one  which  stood  on  the  Robinson  estate.  She 
remembered  that  when  the  father  of  General  Wm.  Robinson 
came  to  the  city  (in  the  time  of  the  depression  of  the  Continental 
currency)  he  had  with  him  $100,  received  as  pay  for  a  whole 
year's  work  elsewhere :  but  it  only  sufficed  to  purchase  for  him 
"a  breakfast  and  a  gill  of  whiskey."  In  the  stress  of  those  times, 
she  knew  that  the  family  of  one  of  those  who  became  wealthiest 
afterwards  went  entire  to  the  cornfield.  The  father  took  his  gun, 
the  mother  took  her  infant  in  its  cradle,  and  both  took  their  hoes. 
Mrs.  Cochrane  was  the  only  one  living  in  the  last  pastorate 
known  to  have  attended  the  final  communion  in  the  log  church, 
celebrated  while  it  was  encased  in  the  brick  building. 


A  fourth  historical  fragment  consisted  of  reminiscences  of  the 
First  Church,  in  statements  made  by  Mrs.  Abishai  Way,  of 
Sewickley,  taken  down  and  kindly  transmitted  by  her  son,  John 
Way,  Jr. 

Mrs.  Abishai  Way,  nee  Anderson,  was  born  in  Carlisle,  Pa., 
June  6th,  1794.  Her  father,  William  Anderson,  and  his  family, 
came  to  Pittsburgh  in  April;  1797.  William  Anderson  became 
a  trustee  of  the  Presbyterian  church.  Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Ander- 
son, his  wife,  was  a  member  of  the  church.  At  their  house  the 
trustees  often  met ;  the  ministers  were  frequently  entertained  ; 
and  from  it  went  many  a  gift  of  game,  or  garden  products,  for  the 
minister's  family.  These  reminiscences  were  confirmed  by  Mrs. 
Way  in  April,  1877.  She  died  in  peace  on  October  20th,  1881, 
in  her  88th  year. 


152  HISTORICAL    FRAGMENTS. 


Rev.  Robert  Steele  and  his  wife,  with  an  infant  child,  came 
from  Ireland — fleeing  from  the  Rebellion  of  1800.  He  either 
had  taken  or  was  supposed  to  have  taken,  some  part  in  it  against 
the  government,  and  would  have  been  hanged  had  he  not  fled. 
They  encountered  a  terrible  storm  in  their  passage,  which  lasted 
for  three  days.  Their  sons  followed  them  some  time  after.  Mr. 
Steele's  brother  William  (called  'Squire  Steele,  why,  I  can't  say) 
lived  in  Pittsburgh  at  that  time,  and  kept  a  store  on  Market 
street,  I  think  in  a  square  (hewed)  log  house,  below  the  Diamond. 
His  wife  was  David  Pride's  sister.        ' 

Rev.  Mr.  Steele  was  a  Free  Mason,  and  chaplain  to  a  Free  Mason 
lodge,  the  meetings  of  which  were  held  in  the  second  story  of  a 
house  on  the  corner  of  the  Diamond,  where  Joseph  Fleming's  drug 
store  now  is.  (S.  E.  corner,  in  Irvine's  Hall,  where  the  Allegheny 
County  Courts  were  held  in  or  about  the  year  1795.)  [Old  Mrs. 
Knox,  mother  of  Robert  and  Miss  Polly  Knox,  formerly  of 
Fourth  street,  I  have  heard  speak  of  the  Allegheny  County 
Courts  of  an  earlier  date,  held  in  a  large  house  (most  probably 
log)  on  S.  E.  corner  Market  and  Front  streets.  She,  then  a 
young  girl,  with  others  would  go  to  the  second  story  room,  lift , 
a  board  off  the  floor,  and  look  down  upon  the  assembled  Court. 
Note  by  John  Way,  Jr.~\ 

Mr.  Steele  was  pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  His 
salary  was  $450.  Some  time  afterwards  it  was  increased  to  $600. 
His  family  consisted  of  three  sons  and  two  daughters.  His  sons 
(most  probably  the  two  oldest ;  the  other  children  must  have 
been  born  in  this  country.  J.  W.  Jr.)  came  to  this  country  some 
time  after  their  father,  in  company  with  a  young  Irishman,  who 
afterwards  married  here. 

On  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Steele's  sons,  an  entertainment  was  made 
for  them  at  my  father's.  The  young  Irishman  was  invited,  and 
distinguished  himself  when  helped  to  boiled  corn  on  the  ear,  a 
dish  altogether  new  to  him,  by  eating  the  cob  ! 

My  first  recollection  of  Mr.  Steele  is  on  the  occasion  of  my 
mother  making  a  call  on  the  family,  taking  me  with  her.  Mr. 
Steele  was  then  a  tutor,  perhaps  principal,  of  the  Western  Uni- 
versity, or  Academy,  and  lived  in  the  University  building, corner 
Cherry  alley  and  Third  street ;  the  dwelling  house  fronting  on 
Cherry  alley.     On  our  return,  my  father  asked  about  the  visit. 


HISTORICAL    FRAGMENTS.  153 


My  mother  replied,  "  Well,  one  thing  I  noticed ;  they  must  be 
very,  very  poor ! "  My  mother  had  some  chickens  caught  and 
sent  up  to  the  family  the  next  day.  I  was  sent  with  the  boy  to 
show  him  the  house. 

I  don't  think  he  remained  long  at  the  University.  He  re- 
moved thence  to  a  small  red  frame  house  on  the  south  side  of 
Second  street  (Second  avenue),  below  Redoubt  alley.  There 
were  but  two  rooms  and  a  kitchen,  down  stairs,  to  this  house  ; 
and  in  it  Mr.  Steele's  family  lived,  and  he  kept  a  school  for  girls. 
He  had  but  seven  or  eight  scholars.  My  sister  Letitia,  Kitty 
Willock,  and  Beckey  Johnston  were  among  the  number.  The 
school  room  was  up  stairs.  Some  time  afterwards  Mr.  Steele 
bought  a  lot  from  Col.  O'Hara,  on  the  corner  of  Seventh  street 
and — (don't  remember  whether  Smithfield  or  Grant).  Here 
he  built  the  back  building  of  a  house  and  removed  to  it.  My 
father's  workmen  and  others,  mechanics,  gave  him  each  a  clay's 
work  on  his  house.  He  was  an  industrious  man  himself,  and 
ready  to  turn  his  hand  to  anything  that  was  required,  willing  to 
do  his  best. 

Upon  one  occasion  he  told  my  father  that  he  had  been  hard 
at  work  all  day — "Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Steele,  "on  something  that 
anybody  might  worship  and  not  break  the  commandment."  It 
was  a  bake  oven,  which,  by  reason  of  his  deficient  education  in 
that  direction,  had  assumed  an  unusual  and  extraordinary  shape. 
Mr.  Steele  always  had  a  fine  garden,  which  he  worked  himself. 

One  very  cold  winter  morning,  about  four  o'clock,  a  fire  broke 
out  in  a  row  of  cheap  frame  houses  on  Wood  street,  above 
Sixth.  The  weather  was  intensely  cold.  Water  was  carried  from 
the  river  in  buckets,  cutting  through  the  ice  to  get  it.  Mr.  Steele 
was  at  the  fire,  worked  hard,  got  wet,  took  cold,  and  in  nine  days 
died. 

The  Free  Masons  raised  $800  for  Mrs.  Steele.  She  lived  on 
Seventh  street  some  years,  and  afterwards  moved  to  Col.  O'Hara's 
old  log  house  (corner  of  Perm  and  Pitt),  in  the  King's  Orchard. 
Mrs.  Steele  was  a  highly  educated  woman.  She  had  Shakespeare 
at  'her  tongue's  end. 

One  of  Mr.  Steele's  sons,  after  his  death,  got  a  situation  as 

clerk  with  Mr.  Cowan,  a  nail  maker.     After  some  time  he  was 

able  to  earn  $800  per  annum.     Another  son  went  into  Nicholas 

Cunningham's  store,  on  Market  street.     The  third  and  youngest, 

11 


154  HISTORICAL    FRAGMENTS. 


was  quite  a  boy  when  his  father  died.  He  afterwards  went  to 
Louisville. 

Mr.  Steele  was  a  tall,  slender  man.  He  wore  black  satin 
breeches,  silk  stockings,  knee  buckles  and  pumps. 

On  one  occasion,  Rev.  Mr.  Reed,  principal  of  a  boys'  school  in 
Huntington,  attended  Synod  at  Pittsburgh.  He  usually  staid  at 
my  father's.  On  this  time  he  went  on  Saturday  to  stay  over 
Sabbath  with  Mr.  Steele,  and  to  preach  for  him.  On  going  to 
church  next  morning,  Mr.  Steele  took  by  mistake,  instead  of  the 
hymn  book,  "Scott's  Lessons,"  a  popular  school  book  of  the  day. 
(We  used  to  call  it  "Scotch  Lessons.")  He  left  it  in  the  pulpit  and 
took  a  seat  below.  Opening  the  book  to  give  out  a  hymn,  Mr. 
Reed's  eye  fell  upon  "John  Gilpin."  Leaning  over  the  pulpit 
and  looking  down  at  Steele,  the  minister  gravely  said,  "Is  this 
the  kind  of  Psawms  ye  sing  here  ?  " 

As  times  grew  better  with  Mr.  Steele,  his  wife  was  enabled  to 
keep  a  servant.  Catherine  O'Hara  one  day  quarreled  with  her 
mistress,  upon  which  Mr.  Steele  reproved  her.  She  retorted  by 
pushing  him  behind 'the  door,  and  would  have  proceeded  further, 
but  the  maid's  mother  suddenly  appeared  upon  the  scene  and 
rescued  the  minister,  with  the  exclamation,  "You  hussy!  wad 
ye  bate  the  priest  ?  " 

The  precentor  in  the  First  Church,  in  Mr.  Steele's  time,  was  an 
old  gentleman  named  Reed,  who  kept  a  tavern  on  the  S.  W. 
corner  of  the  Diamond  and  Diamond  alley.  It  was  his  custom  to 
"line  out  the  hymns,"  and  lead  the  singing.  He  always  gave  his 
salary  for  this  service  to  Mrs.  Steele. 

I  do  not  know  the  size  of  the  old  log  church,  nor  the  number 
of  pews :  nor  have  I  any  recollection  of  attending  any  preaching 
in  it  until  Mr.  Steele  came.  I  well  remember  services  (Episcopal,) 
being  held  in  the  new  Court  House,  which  had  been  built  (in  the 
Diamond,  west  side  of  Market  street,)  shortly  before  we  came  to 
Pittsburgh. 

I  have  a  general  idea  of  the  position  of  the  church,  its 
entrances,  and  the  position  of  some  of  the  pews.  This  diagram 
represents  it.  It  will  be  observed,  the  front  door  faced  Virgin 
alley.  A  side  door  faced  Wood  street.  I  cannot  remember 
whether  or  not  there  was  a  side  door  opposite  the  Wood  street 
entrance,  but  I  think  not,  The  size  of  the  house  would  not 
require  it. 


HISTORICAL    FRAGMENTS. 


155 


PLAN    OF    PEWS    IN    OLD    LOG    CHURCH* 

WITH    PEWHOLDEKS. 

1801. 

SIXTH     STREET. 


S3 

c3 

w 

>> 

c 
a 
a> 
P 

o 

GO 

a 

43 

o 

»-5 

13 

3 

a 

o 

00 

0) 

CO 

a 

-a 
o 
Ha 

0) 

s 

43 

««! 

Hi 

l-» 

Pulpit. 


45  "»J 


GO 

sib 

a 
J3 

g 

"3 

CO 
DO 

o 

"8 

c 

S 

KH 

o 

GO 

3 
P 

g 

43 
O 

eS 

s 

c3 

HS 

t-s 

h- 1 

t-s 

| 

33     34     35     36     37     38 


32     31 


d 

£ 

go 

o 

U 

O 

§ 

w 

GO 

03 
Hs 

Geo.  Stevenson. 


Jas.  Robinson. 


Jno.  Wilkins,  Jr. 


Jno.  Woods. 


Wm.  Morrow. 


And.  Richardson. 


30 

29 
28 
27 
26 
25 
24 
23 
22 
21 
20 


Steel  Semple. 


G.  McGonigle. 


David  Pride. 


Wm.  Anderson. 


James  Riddle. 


Jos.  McCully. 


Robt.  Smith. 


Thos.  Collins. 


Alex.  Addison. 


O 


I      £ 


5      6 


VIRGIN     ALLEY. 

Whole  number  of  Pews 38 

Number  rented  in  1801. 31 

Highest  Pew  Rent $12.00 

Lowest  Pew  Rent 9.00 

*  The  plan  inserted  has  been  substituted  for  that  drawn  according  to  Mrs.  Way's 
memory,  as  somewhat  more  complete,  and  accompanied  by  a  list  of  pewholders.  It  is 
the  work  of  his  Honor  Judge  Addison,  and  was  drawn  in  1801. — S.  F.  S. 


156  HISTORICAL    FRAGMENTS. 


The  pews,  so  called,  were  really  only  benches  with  hacks,  and 
not  very  substantially  set  up.  I  remember  upon  one  occasion, 
that  the  seat  of  our  "pew"  fell  down  at  one  end,  making  quite  a 
noise,  my  mother  falling  with  it.  Mrs.  O'Hara,  who  sat  just  behind, 
leaned  forward  and  said  to  my  mother  in  a  low  voice,  "Why, 
Mrs.  Anderson  :  you  are  the  last  woman  I  should  have  thought 
would  have  made  a  disturbance  in  the  church !"  She  referred  to 
an  incident  that  had  taken  place  a  short  time  before,  when  a 
young  girl  from  Washington  county,  who  had  been  through  the 
exciting  scenes  of  the  falling  work,  then  very  prevalent  in  south 
western  part  of  the  State,  had  "fallen  down"  in  the  church  with 
screams  and  moans.  Major  Denny  had  peremptorily  ordered  her 
out,  and  assisted  "Harris,  the  bell  ringer,"  in  carrying  her  out 
and  throwing  water  on  her. 

I  cannot  remember  anything  about  the  "pulpit"  nor  the 
windows.  The  house  itself  was  built,  I  think,  of  unhewed  logs* 
and  stood  quite  a  distance  in  the  yard. 

The  brick  church  was  built  in  Mr.  Steele's  time.  It  was  a 
necessity,  the  log  church  not  being  large  enough  to  hold  the  con- 
gregation. The  subscriptions  for  the  building  of  the  church  fell 
far  short  of  the  actual  expense,  so  a  lottery  was  proposed  and 
many  tickets  sold.  My  father  sold  tickets  to  all  his  work-hands. 
He  also  gave  me  one — which  drew  a  six  dollar  prize.  Mr.  James 
Thompson  drew  $100.  The  lottery  wheel  was  in  'Squire  Wilkins' 
office,  on  Wood  street,  corner  of  Fourth.  Squire  Wilkins  had 
a  large  garden,  extending  from  his  house  up  Wood  street  to 
Diamond  alley,  and  from  Wood  street  to  the  Diamond. 

When  the  "  drawing "  was  made,  Mr.  Steele's  two  oldest  sons 
turned  the  wheel. 

William  Wilkins  (Judge,)  took  quite  an  interest  in  the  project, 
but  somehow  it  was  not  a  success.  Somebody,  I  do  not  know 
who,  was  said  to  have  drawn  a  prize  of  $1,000. 

Elijah  Trovillo  and  old  Mr.  Goudy  were  the  brick  layers  of 
the  brick  church.  The  new  house  was  built  around  and  over  the 
old  one.  Trovillo,  who  was  somewhat  of  a  wag,  used  to  tell  the 
country  people  that  when  the  new  'walls  were  up,  the  old  church 
was  to  be  burnt  out  of  the  way  ;  and  he  actually  appointed  a  day 
for  some  of  them  to  come  in  and  see  the  sight.  The  pulpit  of 
the  new  church  was  a  large  round  box,  rather  high  up.  It  was 
always  a  mystery  to  me  in  my  childhood  how  the  minister  got 


HISTORICAL   FRAGMENTS.  157 


into  it:  the  steps  up  to  it  were  in  some  way  concealed 
behind  it. 

The  communion  table  was  placed  across  the  house  in  front  of 
the  pulpit.  It  was  a  long  table  with  benches.  They  had  silver 
goblets  and  nice  white  table  linen.  Mr.  James  Cooper  was  one 
of  the  elders,  and  his  daughter,  aunt  Peggy  Davis,  always  took 
care  of  the  communion  service.  The  pews  of  the  new  house  were 
arranged,  as  near  as  possible,  after  the  same  plan  as  in  the  old 
house,  and  each  family  had  relatively  the  same  locality  in  the 
new,  as  they  had  in  the  old  house. 

The  new  house,  however,  faced  Wood  street,  unlike  the  old, 
which,  as  I  said  before,  faced  Virgin  alley. 

At  Mr.  Steele's  death  the  pulpit  was  draped  in  black,  and  re- 
mained so  until  Mr.  Herron's  arrival. 

Old  Mr.  Graham,  of  Wilkinsburg,  preached  Mr.  Steele's  funeral 
sermon. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Graham  one  day  came  to  my  father's  with  the 
abrupt  question  :  "Have  ye  a  devil  about  you?"  "  Well,  I  don't 
know,"  said  my  father,  "  they  are  very  plenty  about  here.  Were 
you  wanting  one?"  It  proved  to  be  some  particular  kind  of 
])loiv  he  wished  to  borrow. 

I  spoke  of  "  Harris,  the  bell  ringer."  I  never  knew  any  other 
name  for  him.  He  was  always  called  that.  He  was  father  of 
Isaac  Harris,  the  "Directory"  man.  He  was  sexton  of  the 
church,  and  rang  the  bell  for  church  and  school.  The  bell 
was  not  at  the  church,  but  at  the  Court  House,  and  did  service 
for  all  the  town.  It  was  not  put  up  until  some  years  after  the 
Court  House  was  built. 

Among  my  earliest  recollections,  is  that  of  assembling  with 
the  other  children  in  the  church  after  service,  to  be  catechized 
by  the  minister. 

Hymn  books  were  very  scarce  and  hard  to  be  got.  I  think 
we  had  no  hymn  books  in  the  congregation,  as  a  general 
thing,  until  after  the  brick  church  was  built.  Nicholas  Cun- 
ningham brought  the  hymn  books  from  Philadelphia.  I  have 
mine  yet.  It  was  presented  to  me  by  Mr.  John  M.  (afterwards 
Judge)  Snowden.  My  name  and  the  date  are  written  on  a  fly 
leaf.     (January  1,  1814.) 


158  HISTORICAL   FRAGMENTS. 


(Copy  of  title  page): 

Psalms  carefully  suited  to  the  Christian  Worship  in  the 
United  States  of  America  :  being  an  improvement  of  the  old 
versions  of  the  Psalms  of  David.  "All  things  written  in  the  laws 
of  Moses,  and  the  Prophets  and  the  Psalms,  concerning  Me,  must  be 
fulfilled:'  New  York:  printed  and  sold  (wholesale,)  at  156 
Pearl  street,  by  D.  &  G.  Bruce,  1808. 

(Copy  of  2d  title  page)  : 

Hymns  and  Spiritual  Songs.     In  three  Books. 
I.     Collected  from  the  Scriptures. 
II.     Composed  on  Divine  Subjects. 

III.     Prepared  for  the  Lord's  Supper,  by  I.  Watts,  D.  D. 

"And  they  sung  a  new  song,  saying,  thou  art  worthy,  etc.,  for 
thou  wast  slain  and  had  redeemed  lis,  etc"  Rev.  v.  9.  "  Soliti 
essent  (i.  e.  Christiani)  convenire,  Carmenque  Christo  quasi  Deo 
dicere"  "  Plinius  in  Epist."  New  York  :  printed  and  sold 
(wholesale,)  at  156  Pearl  street,  by  D.  &  G.  Bruce,  1808. 

(The  Psalm  Book  contains  the  one  hundred  and  fifty  Psalms, 
with  six  doxologies,  one  of  which  is  headed  "As  the  113th 
Psalm:"  another  ".Is  the  HUh  Psalm."  In  the  Hymn  Book 
the  hymns  are  numbered  in  each  part  separately.  Part  first 
contains  hymns  CL.  Part  second,  hymns  CLXX.  Part  third, 
hymns  XLV, including  twenty  so  called  doxologies  and  hosannas. 
There  is  also  the  usual  index  of  subjects  and  table  of  first 
lines,  both  of  which  are  also  found  in  the  Psalm  Book.) 

"Mr.  Steele  was  buried    in  the    graveyard    attached  to   the 

church."  

The  fifth  of  these  fragments  concerns  the  incidental  early  con- 
nection with  the  First  Church  of  no  less  a  personage  than  Bishop 
Henry  Hopkins.  The  extracts  are  taken  from  his  life  written  by 
his  son,  and  show  how  near  we  came  to  having  a  bishop  among 
us  permanently. 

"In  May,  1816,  arriving  the  first  evening  in  Pittsburgh,  they 
were  the  guests  of  their  dear  friends  the  O'Hara's ;  and  on  Sun- 
day went  to  the  Presbyterian  meeting  with  them,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  Dr.  Herron  being  then  the  leading  preacher  in  all  that 
region  of  country.  *  *  *  When  the  singular  kindness  of  the 
O'Hara's  is  remembered  and  the  absence  of  all  definite  church 
principle  as  yet,  in  my  father's  mind,  is  kept  in  view,  it  will  not 
seem  strange  that  on  his  coming  to  live  in  Pittsburgh,  my  parents. 


HISTORICAL   FRAGMENTS.  159 


went  on  Sundays,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  Dr.  Hermit's  Presby- 
terian meeting,  with  seats  in  the  O'Hara  pew,  and  there  they 
would  probably  have  remained  had  it  not  been  for  one  of  those 
trifling  things  which  the  world  calls  accidents.  (Mr.  H.  was  re- 
quested to  become  the  organist  in  Trinity  Church.)  In  1816, '17 
and  '18  the  Presbyterian  Society  was  by  all  odds  the  dominant 
one  in  Pittsburgh,  whether  for  numbers,  wealth,  or  social  and 
intellectual  power  and  weight.  Few  and  feeble  were  the  Church- 
folk  in  Western  Pennsylvania  in  those  days,  and  the  worst  step 
a  young  man  could  take  who  wished  to  rise  in  the  world  as  a 
lawyer,  was  to  quit  the  Presbyterians  and  'join  the  Episcopals.' 
[pp.  60,  61.] 

After  the  Rev.  Mr.  Carter  left  Trinity  a  long  and  painful  va- 
cancy followed.  Now  one  was  obtained  for  a  time,  now  another, 
but  of  such  moderate  abilities,  that  but  little  growth  could  be 
expected  of  their  leadership.  One  of  them  experienced  great  diffi- 
culty in  the  preparation  of  his  sermons,  and  made  no  secret  of  it. 
He  lived  in  a  house  the  rear  of  which  looked  upon  the  rear  of 
that  which  was  occupied  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  McElroy,  (long  known 
as  Dr.  McElroy,  of  New  York  City,)  then  a  young  Presbyterian 
minister  of  leading  ability  and  a  kind  heart,  and  the  gardens  be- 
tween them  were  narrow.  Each  had  his  study  in  the  rear  of  the 
house.  The  story  runs,  that  once  upon  a  time,  in  the  summer, 
our  rector  had  found  himself  utterly  unable  during  the  week  to 
write  the  dreaded  sermon,  and  on  Saturday,  at  about  noon,  de- 
spairing of  success,  bent  down  his  head  over  his  crossed  arms  upon 
his  study  table  and  wept  audibly  from  sheer  helplessness  and 
mortification.  The  windows  were  all  open  and  the  kind  hearted 
Presbyterian  dominie,  seeing  his  predicament  and  pitying  him 
sincerely,  called  out  loud  enough  to  be  heard  through  the  gardens  : 
'Don't  cry,  brother .     I'll  lend  you  a  sermon.'  "     [p.  63.] 


The  sixth  of  the  fragments  was  a  reminiscence  of  First 
Church  Hospitality. 

The  Rev.  Sylvester  Scovel,  declining  invitations  to  Eastern 
fields,  came  West  in  1829,  having  been  married  in  Philadelphia 
on  the  day  the  journey  began,  to  Miss  Hannah  Matlack.  Arriv- 
ing at  Pittsburgh  on  Saturday,  after  a  wearisome  journey  of 
nearly  a  week,  they  were  found  to  be  at  the  hotel.     Dr.  Herron 


160  HISTORICAL    FRAGMENTS. 


sent  one  of  his  daughters  (my  mother  remembers  yet  how  hand- 
some a  family  it  was)  to  conduct  them  to  his  own  house.  They 
spent  the  Sabbath  there.  Mr.  Scovel  preached  in  the  morning  in 
this  pulpit.  In  addition  he  preached  in  the  afternoon  in  the 
Second  Church,  then  under  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Swift.  On 
Monday,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Herron,  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Scovel,  were 
entertained  at  dinner  at  Dr.  Swift's,  in  Allegheny. 

When  obliged  to  resume  their  journey,  the  family  rose  as  early 
as  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  to  send  them  away  to  the  missionary 
work  of  years  in  the  then  great  West — the  valley  of  the  Ohio, 
and  near  Cincinnati.  This  rest  and  refreshment  of  Christian 
care  and  fellowship  has  now  been  a  bright  spot  in  my  mother's 
memories  for  nearly  fifty-five  years.  The  date  of  the  Sabbath 
on  which  it  occurred  is  corroborated  by  the  diary  of  Dr.  Swift, 
and  by  the  account  given  in  1881  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Adam  Tor- 
rance, recently  deceased.  He,  a  student  in  the  Seminary  and 
boarding  at  Dr.  Swift's,  dined  there  with  those  already  mentioned 
on  the  Monday,  and  had  preserved  in  his  diary  a  record  of  my 
father's  text  and  an  appreciative  notice  of  the  sermon. 

That  Sabbath — July  5th,  1829 — was  the  communion  occasion 
in  the  Second  Church,  and  seventeen  persons  were  added  upon 
examination.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Jennings  preached  in  the  morning? 
Avho  has  long  been  my  own,  as  he  was  my  father's  friend.  (They 
had  been  in  Princeton  Seminary  together.)  It  is  to  be  noted  as 
an  apt  illustration  of  that  promise  of  the  xlvth  Psalm  (which  I 
remember  Dr.  McGill's  quoting  to  me  when  I  handed  in  my  first 
commission  to  the  General  Assembly,  in  1860) — "instead  of  the 
fathers  I  will  take  the  children  : "  that  during  these  services 
(nearly  fifty-five  years  after  that  Sabbath)  there  will  be  present 
Dr.  Swift's  son  (who  presides  over  the  meeting  this  afternoon), 
and  the  son  of  Dr.  Jennings,  (the  Rev.  Philip  S.  Jennings)  and 
my  father's  son. 

These  incidents  I  have  desired  to  find  some  place  in  our  cele- 
bration, as  they  show  (1)  the  lasting  blessings  of  that  simplicity  of 
life  which  does  not  consume  everything  upon  itself  but  leaves  a 
large  margin  for  Christian  hospitality  ;  and  they  show  (2)  what 
a  delightful  state  of  good  feeling  then  reigned  between  the  two 
churches  and  has  ever  since  endured ;  and  they  show  (3)  that 
the  ministers'  sons  do  not  all  go  to  the  bad. 


MISSIONARY    HISTORY.  161 


MISSIONARY    HISTORY. 


DR.  WM.  SPEER. 


[The  Missionary  History  was  then  read  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Speer, 
and  will  be  found  to  embrace  many  most  interesting  details  now  collected 
for  the  first  time.] 

It  is  a  conspicuous  fact  in  the  religious  history  of  America, 
that  Pittsburgh  has  been  a  very  prominent  centre  of  missionary 
interest,  and  of  corresponding  influence,  not  alone  in  the  Presby- 
terian, but  to  some  extent  in  other  churches  of  the  nation.  To 
what  cause  is  this  due  ?  , 

The  condition  of  the  country  west  of  the  Allegheny  mountains 
a  century  ago  was  such  as  to  make,  at  that  early  day,  what  we 
classify  as  "foreign  missionary  work"  a  stern  necessity. 

The  heathen  were  the  owners  and  occupants  of  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  country  where  we  now  have  reared  innumerable 
cities  and  luxurious  homes.  Thomas  and  Richard  Penn  had 
bought,  for  ten  thousand  dollars,  from  the  Indian  tribes  called 
the  "Six  Nations,"  the  land  between  the  Susquehanna  and  Alle- 
gheny rivers.  But  the  savages  understood  little  and  regarded 
still  less  what  such  a  sale  meant ;  and  dwelt  upon  and  hunted 
over  it.  And  so  they  did  in  all  the  country  west  of  the  Allegheny, 
which  they  sold  in  like  style  to  the  Penn's  during  the  very  year 
which  we  are  commemorating. 

Causes  which  we  cannot  now  consider  had  created  intense 
and  increasing  hatred,  and  caused  unsparing  and  deadly  warfare  to 
exist  between  the  Indians  and  the  whites.  Many  horrible  mas- 
sacres of  either  people  by  their  enemies  had  given  a  terrible 
notoriety  to   the    region.     They  watched,  and  hunted,  and  slew 


162  MISSIONARY    HISTORY. 


each  other  like  wild  beasts.  The  local  authorities  of  the  whites 
paid  rewards  for  the  dead  scalps  or  living  bodies  of  Indians,  vary- 
ing in  their  sums  from  a  hundred  and  fifty  down  to  fifty  dollars, 
according  to  sex  and  age.  Some,  even  Christian  people,  had 
persuaded  themselves  that  the  Indians  were  the  Canaanites  of  the 
land,  and  to  be  utterly  destroyed  without  mercy. 

So  blind  and  vindictive  was  the  hatred  of  all  Indians  that  in 
March,  1782,  a  party  of  men  from  about  Fort  Pitt,  upon  an  ex- 
pedition through  what  is  now  the  State  of  Ohio,  came  upon  three 
villages  of  Christian  Indians — Gnadenhutten,  Shonbrunn  and 
Salem,  where  had  been  gathered  and  were  living  in  peaceful 
industry  and  quiet,  some  of  the  converts  of  the  pious  Moravian 
missionaries,  Post,  Zeisberger  and  Heckewelder.  These  Indians 
and  their  teachers  had  taken  pains  to  avoid  connection  with  their 
heathen  kindred  in  their  deeds  of  violence,  and  to  exhibit  to  the 
whites  on  the  Ohio  river  and  at  Fort  Pitt  their  anxiety  for 
friendship  and  peace.  On  the  other  hand  they  had,  with  great 
efforts  and  much  danger  to  themselves,  prevented  many  of  the 
heathen  Indians  accepting  the  solicitations  of  the  British  at 
Detroit,  to  serve  them  in  the  war  then  raging  against  the  Amer- 
ican colonies.  Yet  many  of  the  Fort  Pitt  people  refused  to 
accept  the  declaration  of  these  things. 

On  Monday,  the  6th  of  March,  the  white  party  appeared  at 
the  villages,  and  were  kindly  entertained  by  the  Indians  with 
corn,  and  venison,  and  honey,  of  which  they  emptied  their  stores 
and  beehives.  They  refused  to  receive  warnings  which  some  of 
their  friends  gave  them,  of  danger.  They  talked  with  the 
whites  of  God  and  Christ  Jesus,  and  their  faith.  On  Thursday, 
there  were  hot  debates  in  the  white  camp.  The*  Shonbrunn 
people  became  alarmed  and  fled  into  the  forest.  In  the  afternoon 
a  party  of  the  whites  collected  the  Salem  and  Gnadenhutten 
people ;  they  bound  them  in  couples,  and  put  all  the  women  and 
girls  into  one  house,  the  men  and  boys  into  another  at  Gna- 
denhutten. The  night  was  spent  by  the  captives  in  prayer  and 
singing  of  hymns.  In  the  morning  a  band  of  men  entered  each 
house.  With  clubs,  mallets  and  hatchets,  they  murdered  the 
entire  number  confined  there,  save  two  boys,  one  of  whom  hid 
himself  in  the  cellar,  and  the  other  escaped  through  the  door. 
Ninety-six  people,  five  of  them  Christian  assistants  of  the  mis- 


MISSIONARY    HISTORY.  163 


sion,  perished.  The  whites  scalped  the  bodies,  took  fifty  horses, 
what  plunder  they  could  carry,  and  returned  to  Fort  Pitt. 

Only  two  months  afterwards  the  heathen  Indians  defeated 
Col.  Crawford's  expedition,  and  inflicted  a  horrible  vengeance 
upon  the  Pennsylvania  people  for  that  massacre  at  Gnadenhut- 
ten.  They  burned  Col.  Crawford  and  several  other  captives  at 
the  stake,  with  mocking  and  fearful  tortures. 

In  such  events  as  these,  there  were  two  overwhelming  argu- 
ments for  Christian  missions  to  the  Indian  tribes.  The  first,  the 
troubles  and  dangers  inflicted  upon  the  white  population  of  this 
region  and  all  their  interests  by  the  proximity  of  the  barbarous 
Indians.  The  other,  the  assured  fact  that  the  gospel  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  had  power  to  change  the  most  savage  nature,  to 
impart  habits  of  civilization,  and  industry  and  peace,  and  to 
enable  men  and  women,  born  in  heathen  darkness,  to  live  lives 
and  to  die  deaths  which  bear  comparison  with  those  of  the 
Christian  martyrs  of  the  first  centuries  or  of  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation. 

The  condition  of  the  white  population,  which  was  forming 
infant  settlements  in  the  most  eligible  spots,  afforded  two  similar 
arguments  for  home  missions.  On  the  one  hand  there  were  resi- 
dent in  this  new  frontier,  some  men  and  women  and  families  of  tried 
and  fervent  and  intelligent  piety ;  a  piety  made  •  like  gold,  the 
more  pure  and  shining  by  the  fires  through  which  it  passed  and 
the  dross  with  which  it  was  contrasted.  The  people,  save  a  few 
Germans,  were  almost  all  of  the  Scotch  blood,  disciplined  by  a 
sojourn  in  the  north  of  Ireland.  But  the  greater  part  of  the 
white  population,  from  Fort  Pitt  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  was  of 
a  very  abandoned  and  desperate  character.  Some  of  them  lived 
with  the  Indians,  and  incited  them  to  the  commission  of  many  of 
their  acts  of  atrocity.  Deeds  of  bloodshed  and  crime  were  fre- 
quent, and  many  of  them  unpunished.  Drunkenness  and  vice 
corrupted  much  of  what  society  there  was.  The  soldiers  of  Fort 
Pitt  were  almost  beyond  restraint.  A  military  commander  sent 
there  in  1782,  reported  to  the  Secretary  of  War  at  Philadelphia, 
"they  are  the  most  licentious  men,  and  the  worst  behaved,  I  ever 
saw."  These  were  the  circumstances  in  which  a  few  men  and 
women,  dwelling  among  them,  whose  righteous  souls  from  day 
to  day  were  vexed  with  the  unlawful  deeds  and  with  the  filthy 
conversation  of  the  wicked,  sought  for  deliverance  through  the 


l')4  MISSIONARY    HISTORY. 


help  from  on  high,  and  began  to  pray  that  the  Lord  would 
bring  in  preachers  of  righteousness. 

In  the  year  1784,  a  day  of  better  things  began  to  dawn.  The 
town  of  Pittsburgh  was  laid  out.  The  portion  of  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  west  of  the  Allegheny  river,  was  bought  from  the 
Indians  of  the  Six  Nations.  Steps  were  taken  during  the  year  to 
obtain  regular  preaching  by  Presbyterian  ministers.  We  see 
how,  from  the  beginning,  the  church  inhaled  an  atmosphere 
which  kindled  the  pulses  of  an  energetic  missionary  life ;  one 
which  has  continued  strong  and  fervent  in  its  youth  and  in  its 
prime. 

And  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  gave  to  His  people  in  all  this 
region  the  promise  that  the  day  which  then  dawned  in  such 
darkness,  should  be  one  of  great  it  uitf  ulness  and  joy,  by  pouring 
out  upon  the  churches  here  and  there  rains  of  unexpected  grace, 
which,  in  the  years  until  the  present  century  fairly  opened, 
multiplied  and  spread  over  this  and  other  lauds.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  mighty  advance  which  religious  history  entitles 
"the  Great  Revival  of  1800." 

The  second  jjeriod  in  the  missionary  history  of  this  church,  is 
that  associated  with  the  rise  of  organized  activity  in  the  spread 
of  the  gospel 'at  home  and  abroad. 

Previous  to  the  current  century,  there  had  been  in  New 
England  and  on  the  western  frontiers,  irregular  missionary 
efforts  of  individuals  and  of  associations.  But  there  was  now  a 
swelling  of  the  river  of  the  water  of  life,  which  called  for  new 
and  powerful  ecclesiastical  machinery  and  enterprise. 

Pittsburgh  was  the  place  which  the  position  in  respect  to  mis- 
sionary fields,  the  character  of  the  people,  and  the  spiritual 
baptism  which  this  western  region  had  received  in  richer  measure 
than  the  East,  indicated  as  ordained  of  Providence  to  be  the  source 
of  such  a  movement  in  the  Presbyterian  church  of  the  nation  as 
would  qualify  her  to  fulfill  her  high  obligations  to  Jesus  Christ 
and  to  mankind  in  all  future  time. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  in  the  religious  history  of  America,  that 
while  the  missionary  efforts  of  other  branches  of  the  Christian 
church  have  been  experimental  and  unsystematic,  the  Spirit  of 
God  guided  the  Presbyterian  church  here  at  once  to  the  very 
form  and  order  and  methods  of  the  control  and  performance  of 


MISSIONARY    HISTORY.  165 


such  work  which  time  has  proven  to  be,  as  to  its  membership, 
the  most  suitable,  practical,  permanent,  and  capable  of  expansion 
until  its  operations  should  extend  throughout  the  nation,  and  we 
know  not  yet  where  throughout  the  world.  "The  Board  of 
Trust,"  which  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh  organized  and  appointed 
at  its  first  meeting  in  1802,  was  the  germ  and  the  model  of  all 
subsequent  Presbyterian  Missionary  Boards,  home  and  foreign, 
in  our  own  and  in  other  bodies  of  the  Presbyterian  name.  Con- 
gregational ideas  of  church  government  interfered  with  it  for  a 
time  and  proved  its  strength  and  vitality.  But  the  influence  of 
this  region  restored  the  original  plan.  At  last  it  triumphed  fully, 
and  for  all  the  future,  in  the  acceptance  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  organization  reared  here,  and  in  the  adoption  of 
it  for  the  whole  church  in  1837,  under  the  name  of  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  A  portion  of  the 
great  Presbyterian  body  refused  for  a  third  of  a  century  to 
conform  to  this  mode  of  operations.  It  was  a  joyful  day  when, 
on  that  memorable  Friday  morning,  the  12th  day  of  November, 
1869,  what  had  been  called  the  Old  and  New  School  divisions 
of  the  church  met  here  in  the  same  city,  and  on  the  very  ground 
where  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh  had,  in  1802,  planted  the  tree, 
and  sat  down  together  as  one  reunited  and  rejoicing  family,  to 
eat  and  drink  under  its  now  widely  extended  and  fruitful 
branches. 

This  old  church  well  deserved  that  distinguished  honor.  The 
first  seven  annual  meetings  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh  were 
held  under  its  roof ;  and  of  the  first  twenty-two  meetings,  that 
is  until  the  year  1833,  sixteen  were  held  in  the  same  place  ;  the 
other  six  were  held  in  the  town  of  Washington,  a  deserved 
tribute  to  the  noble  body  of  men  in  that  vicinity.  The  Western 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  was  presided  over,  during  its  exist- 
ence, by  Harmar  Denny,  an  elder,  as  President,  and  by  Dr. 
Herron,  as  Chairman  of  its  Executive  Committee;  and  its 
meetings  were  generally  held  in  the  lecture  room  of  this  church. 
The  contributions  of  the  people  of  the  church  were  the  largest, 
with  few  exceptions,  made  to  its  treasury. 

And  yet  it  would  be  neither  just  nor  modest  were  we  to  dis- 
parage the  co-operation  of  many  other  churches,  and  other 
ministers  and  elders ;  some  in  this  region,  some  elsewhere,  par- 
ticularly in  the  cities  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and 


166  MISSIONARY    HISTORY. 


Cincinnati.  And  high  above  all  other  men  of  the  Presbyterian 
name  in  fervent  zeal,  comprehensive  knowledge,  moving  elo- 
quence and  arduous  labors  for  foreign  missions,  was  the  pastor 
of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  and  Corresponding  Secretary 
of  the  Society,  Dr.  Elisha  P.  Swift,  the  son  of  Lucy  Elliot,  a  de- 
scendant in  the  fourth  generation  of  the  famous  first  apostle  to 
the  Indians  of  America,  John  Eliot,  of  Massachusetts,  and  a 
kinsman  of  the  Payson's  and  others  of  the  saintliest  spirits  of 
modern  ages. 

The  very  limited  time  permitted  to  the  present  address  allows 
me  only  to  sketch  the  bolder  outlines  of  the  causes  and  facts 
which  have  created  the  eminent  missionary  character  of  this 
church  and  this  region.  It  has  sustained  this  character  by  the 
liberality  of  its  contributions  to  all  forms  of  missionary  and 
benevolent  work  in  this  and  other  lands  ;  by  the  personal  efforts 
of  its  sons  and  daughters  in  many  ways  for  the  advancement  of 
the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  and  its  influence  upon  the  students  of 
the  Theological  Seminary,  which  have  been  noticed  more  partic- 
ularly in  the  Sabbath  School  history  ;  and  by  the  part  which 
it  has  taken  in  establishing  and  fostering  the  religious  and 
literary  institutions  of  the  neighborhood  and  of  the  land.  Its 
pastor  was  an  active  participant  in  the  steps  by  which  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  organized  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Education, 
and  he  was  continued  by  his  Synod  or  the  Assembly  a  member  of 
the  Board,  during  most,  if  not  all  the  time,  for  forty  years, 
until  his  death  in  1860.  A  son  of  this  church  was  the  Corres- 
ponding Secretary  and  executive  officer  of  that  Board,  in  Phila- 
delphia, for  nearly  eleven  years.  The  largest  contributions  of 
the  means  by  which  the  operations  of  the  Western  Theological 
Seminary  were  sustained,  came,  for  many  years,  as  also  those  by 
which  it  was  at  first  built  and  when  burned  rebuilt,  from  members 
of  this  church.  A  summary  of  the  history  of  your  first  century 
would  be  incomplete  without  the  record  of  these  facts  for  the 
inspiration  of  those  who  shall  follow,  to  still  better  deeds.  And 
far  better  and  larger  efforts  truly  are  needed  from  those  to  come 
— home  missionary  work,  especially  for  the  conversion  of  the 
millions  of  foreign  emigrants  who  threaten  our  republican  in- 
stitutions with  their  most  serious  danger  ;  and  foreign  missionary 
work,  to  send,  according  to  the  Redeemer's  last  command,  the 
gospel  to  every  creature. 


MISSIONARY    HISTORY. 


167 


A  third  period  of  advancement  in  the  missionary  life  of  this 
church  is  so  closely  associated  with  the  general  progress  of  the 
Presbyterian  body  and  of  Christianity  in  the  nation,  as  to  de- 
mand' distinct  commemoration  in  a  review  of  the  century  of  its 
history.  We  have  seen  the  success  of  the  efforts  to  give  form  to 
the  organizations  of  the  Presbyterian  Church ;  now,  how  shall 
life  be  infused  into  them  ?  Bone  and  sinew  and  muscle  and  skin 
are  of  little  value  without  an  animating  spirit  and  vital  energy. 

Pittsburgh  was  looked  to,  from  all  parts  of  the  land,  as  the 
city  whose  central  location,  the  spirit  of  the  people,  the  tone  of 
religion,  and  the  influence  in  the  regions  related  to  it,  rendered  it 
the  most  suitable  for  some  of  those  great  convocations  whose 
transactions  have  formed  eras  in  the  great  efforts  to  deepen  and 
spread  the  efficiency  of  the  gospel  of  salvation. 

The  First  Church,  as  the  oldest  and  best  known  in  the  com- 
munity, and  honoring  thus  those  which  sprang  from  it,  has  been 
selected  to  be  the  scene  of  a  series  of  religious  conventions,  during 
the  last  half  century,  which  attach  great  interest  to  the  locality 
—have  greatly  affected  the  character  and  influence  of  the  mem- 
bership of  this  and  the  other  churches  here.  These  conventions 
may  be  classified  as  designed  for  ecclesiastical  ends  ;  as  for  the 
promotion  of  general  objects  of  religious  interest  or  of  various 
reforms ;  or  as  devotional  convocations  of  prayer  for  the  outpour- 
ing of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

The  ecclesiastical  conventions  began  in  the  times  of  resistance 
to  the  aggressions  of  the  great  voluntary  societies  of  New  Eng- 
land upon  the  benevolent  operations  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 
When  the  General  Assembly  of  1835  met  in  Pittsburgh,  a  con- 
vention of  this  kind  for  counsel  and  prayer  was  held  in  the 
Second  Church.  After  the  disruption  of  the  Presbyterian  body, 
a  general  convention  of  the  ministry  and  eldership  of  the  Synods  of 
Pittsburgh,  Wheeling  and  Ohio,  a  meeting  of  remarkable  interest, 
was  held  in  this  church  in  November,  1842.  Many  of  the  old 
fathers  of  the  church  were  present.  Elisha  McCurdy  made  there 
his  farewell  plea  before  his  translation  to  heaven,  in  behalf  of 
revivals  and  missions.  The  claims  of  the  several  Boards  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  Theological  Seminary  were  represented.  The 
prayers  and  addresses  greatly  quickened  the  churches  of  this  part 
of  the  land.  A  convention  of  a  kindred  nature,  in  behalf  of 
church  work,  was  held  here  in  the  first  week  of  December,  1867. 


168  MISSIONARY    HISTORY. 


In  the  same  month  of  1875,  a  convention  of  the  four  Synods  of 
Pittsburgh,  Erie,  Cleveland  and  Columbus  celebrated  here  the 
centenary  of  the  commencement  of  the  labors  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
John  McMillan  and  the  first  planting  of  the  Presbyterian  literary 
and  theological  institutions.  It  commemorated  by  a  number  of 
valuable  papers  the  ecclesiastical  and  missionary  history  of  this 
region,  which  have  been  published  together  in  a  volume. 

Another  class  of  conventions  held  in  the  church  has  had  refer- 
ence to  general  religious  objects,  temperance  and  other  reforms. 
In  November,  1867,  there  was  held  a  "Christian  convention," 
presided  over  by  Mr.  D wight  L.  Moody,  the  object  of  which  Was 
to  perpetuate  the  Christian  activity  aroused  by  the  years  of  Avar, 
in  the  direction  of  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  needy  and  the  vicious. 
One  of  the  most  interesting  of  these  general  conventions  was  the 
first  meeting  in  the  United  States  of  what  is  styled  "the  Biennial 
Conference  of  the  American  Branch  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance," 
in  October,  1875.  Representatives  of  most  of  the  Christian  de- 
nominations of  the  country  were  present.  Able  papers  were  read, 
and  useful  counsels  held,  in  regard  to  many  of  those  great  prac- 
tical objects  in  which  all  evangelical  Christians  may  combine 
their  efforts,  resources  and  influence  in  antagonism  to  the  errors 
and  vices  of  the  land,  and  to  advance  the  interests  of  spiritual 
religion  in  the  world. 

Another  class  of  conventions  has  been  principally  of  a  devo- 
tional aim :  to  unite  the  prayers  of  believers  to  God  for  the  ful- 
fillment of  His  promises  of  the  gifts  of  power  from  on  high,  through 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Such  a  convocation  of  the  ministry  and  elder- 
ship of  the  four  Synods  of  the  upper  valley  of  the  Ohio  was  held 
in  the  dark  days  of  the  winter  of  1860-61,  when  the  terrible 
shadows  of  the  coming  civil  war  hung  over  the  country.  For 
three  days — January  15th  to  17th — they  entreated  the  Lord  of 
hosts  for  mercy  upon  our  sinful  nation.  His  mercy  was  granted 
through  the  swift  exercise  of  justice.  The  rebellion  in  behalf  of 
the  maintenance  of  slavery  He  "cut  short  in  righteousness.  A 
short  work  did  the  Lord  make  upon  the  earth."  The  Allwise 
and  Almighty  often  answers  prayer  in  ways  which  His  people 
"understand  not  now,"  "to  the  praise  of  the  glory  of  His  grace." 
We  might  allude  also,  if  time  permitted,  to  the  interesting  and 
largely  attended  convention  for  prayer  in  November,  1878.  But 
we  hasten  to  notice  that  convention   for  which  above  all  others 


MISSIONARY    HISTORY.  169 


the  name  of  the  old  First  Church  of  Pittsburgh  will  be  remem- 
bered on  the  earth  ;  that  is,  the  convention  of  December  1st  to  3d, 
1857.  It  was  opened  by  a  sermon  from  the  venerable  Dr.  James 
Hoge,  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  from  the  text  "  not  by  might,  nor  by 
power,  but  by  My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts."  This  was  the 
key  note  of  the  whole  meeting,  in  which  there  were  at  times  such 
heart-broken  and  believing  supplication  to  God,  such  earnest 
appeals  to  the  consciences  and  hopes  of  His  servants,  and  such 
manifestations  of  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  melt  the  souls 
of  men,  as  have  been  witnessed  upon  few  occasions  in  modern 
times.  We  cannot  in  this  very  brief  address  attempt  any  de- 
scription of  the  transactions  of  that  convention.  We  can  only 
advert  to  some  of  its  results. 

It  was  the  first  assembly  of  ministers  and  Christian  people  to 
pray  for  that  vast  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  extended 
from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun,  during  the  ensuing  three  years. 
It  was  the  nation's  preparation  for  the  stern  conflict  which  re- 
sulted in  the  universal  and  complete  overthrow  of  African 
slavery,  the  evil  which  above  all  others  threatened  the  destruction 
of  our  republican  existence,  and  of  the  institutions  of  spiritual 
Christianity,  which  are  the  best  hope  of  the  world's  conversion  to 
(rod.  It  started  the  flow  of  numerous  forms  of  evangelistic  life 
and  power,  which  have  continued  to  operate  in  the  land  and  in 
the  world.  It  kindled  a  flame  of  missionary  supplication  and 
effort  which  has  brought  a  new  life  from  heaven  to  many  fields 
of  labor  in  heathen,  Mohammedan  and  antichristian  countries. 
It  prompted,  in  India,  the  effectual  establishment  of  the  week  of 
prayer  for  the  conversion  of  the  world,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
distinct  memorials  of  the  convention  among  us.  It  was  the 
pledge  and  earnest  of  those  final  gifts  of  the  Spirit  from  on  high 
which  shall  regenerate  "all  flesh,"  and  bring  all  nations  to  joyful 
submission  to  Jesus  Christ  as  their  glorious  Redeemer  and  Lord. 

We  know  not  what  millions  of  souls  have  been  born  to  God 
through  the  influences  of  that  revival  of  1857  to  1861.  Eternity 
only  can  reveal  the  fruits  of  it  to  churches,  to  nations  and  to 
mankind.  Let  me  name  two  individuals  whose  everlasting  life 
began  in  circumstances  of  special  interest  to  us  in  this  house  and 
on  this  occasion.  A  young  Frenchman,  a  student  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  was  present  in  this  house.  That  convention 
made  him  a  child  of  God.  And  now  Theodore  Monod,  a  son  of 
12 


170  MISSIONARY    HISTORY. 


the  eminent  French  preacher,  Frederic  Monod,  who  was  with 
him  here,  through  the  training  of  our  Theological  Seminary,  and 
the  impulses  received  in  these  churches,  has  become  the  Me- 
lancthon  of  that  great  revival  which  to-day  promises  to  regener- 
ate France,  and  which  must  affect  spiritual  Christianity  over  the 
continent  of  Europe. 

The  other  individual  was  a  woman.  In  February,  1858,  she 
was  baptized  in  the  aisle  before  me.  The  whole  congregation 
was  affected  by  the  sight,  many  of  them  to  tears.  She  had  been 
the  Chinese  nurse  of  the  children  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Happer.  Mrs. 
Tsang  went  back  to  China,  on  fire  with  what  she  had  seen,  in 
churches  east  of  the  mountains  and  here,  of  the  wondrous  scenes 
of  that  revival.  This  was  one  of  the  means  by  which  was  set 
and  kept  in  operation  that  woman's  work  in  Canton,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  and  hopeful  features  of  the  advance- 
ment of  Christianity  in  China. 

Brethren  and  sisters  in  Christ,  let  each  of  us  go  forth  from 
this  centennial  convention,  assured  by  such  wondrous  and  mul- 
tiplied pledges  of  God's  willingness  to  bless  us  exceeding 
abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  to  lives  of  more  in- 
cessant and  believing  prayer ;  to  a  more  hearty  and  complete 
consecration  of  life,  and  children,  and  property,  and  time  and 
effort  to  the  service  of  our  Divine  Redeemer  and  King.  God's 
infallible  word  declares  that  the  greatest  gifts  which  the  church 
on  earth  has  ever  received,  the  outpourings  of  primitive  Chris- 
tianity, of  the  Lutheran  Reformation,  and  of  recent  generations, 
are  but  the  preparations,  "the  former  rains"  of  blessings  from 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  which  the  great  "latter  rains"  shall  flood  the 
Avhole  earth  with  the  prophetic  sea  of  the  knowledge,  and  holi- 
ness, and  joy  of  the  Lord. 


woman's  work  in  the  first  church.  ,    171 


WOMAN'S  WORK  IN  THE  FIRST  CHURCH. 


All  would  have  felt  the  occasion  incomplete  without  some  careful  at- 
tempt to  trace  the  influence  of  the  Tryphenas  and  Tryphosas  of  our  First 
Church  History.  Certainly  there  have  been  too  many  who  "  labored  much 
in  the  Lord"  to  allow  of  any  very  narrow  limits  being  put  upon  the  paper 
that  should  commemorate  their  faithfulness  and  commend  their  examples. 
Accordingly  some  liberty  has  been  taken  by  Mrs.  Scovel,  both  in  the 
original  preparation  of  the  paper  and  in  the  re-writing  of  it— in  both 
cases  largely  from  materials  furnished  by  Miss  Matilda  Denny  and  Miss 
Jennie  Brooks.     It  is  gladly  printed  in  full. 

In  this  day  and  generation,  the  expression  "  woman's  work" 
has  widened  beyond  the  home,  which  formerly  defined  its  limits, 
and  is  mainly  identified  with  organized  effort  in  church  and 
society.  To  the  women  of  early  days  the  expression,  as  used  in 
the  old  adage, 

"  Man's  work's  from  sun  to  sun, 

But  woman's  work  is  never  done," 
had  not  the  faintest  reference  to  missionary,  church  or  temper- 
ance societies,  but  to  that  ceaseless  round  of  household  duties, 
unaided  by  modern  helps  and  conveniences,  which  fell  to  her  lot. 
The  Sabbath  was  to  her  the  coveted  time  when,  on  one  day  of 
seven,  she  could  sit  awhile  with  folded  hands  as  she  listened  to 
the  ministry  of  the  Word,  and  it  would  seem  quite  possible  that 
as  her  eye  would  stray  through  the  opened  windows  upon  the 
quiet  churchyard,  she  might  sometimes  long  to  be  laid  there  at 
rest,  while  her  freed  soul  should  be  refreshed  by  the  ministries 
of  heaven. 

But  because  she  only  wrought  at  home  during  the  week  and 
went  to  church  for  her  own  edification  on  Sundays,  had  she  no 
part  in  the  century's  history  of  woman's  work  ? 


172  woman's  work  in  the  first  church. 


Yes  ! — if  we  rightly  estimate  faithful  training  of  children  in 
the  fear  of  the  Lord  and  unquestioned  loyalty  to  the  church  whose 
foundations  she  silently  cemented  with  unceasing  labors  of  love 
and  prayer.  Her  strong  desire  for  church  ordinances  and  her 
unwearying  attendance  upon  its  services  have  made  secure  the 
very  existence  of  the  church.  If  the  women  had  relaxed  their 
zeal  in  maintaining  church  life,  from  first  to  last  of  the  century, 
where  would  have  been  the  glorious  history  we  are  to-day  met  to 
recall  ?  Could  all  the  wifely  and  motherly  entreaties,  admoni- 
tions and  spurs  to  duty  be  summoned  before  us,  how  many  of 
the  courageous,  devoted  deeds  and  counsels  of  the  elders  and 
brethren,  and  even  of  the  pastors  themselves,  might  be  traced 
to  the  loving  urgency  of  these  sources ! 

The  easy  strife  of  words  was  not  the  only  means  employed,  but 
deeds  as  well,  were  wrought  into  the  upbuilding  of  the  church. 
Yet  these  women  of  the  olden  time  would  hardly  think  of  calling 
that  "  work "  which ,  to  them,  was  a  profitable  diversion,  a  sort  of 
spiritual  pastime. 

At  the  first  experiment  of  a  prayer  meeting  begun  by  Dr. 
Herron  and  Mr.  Hunt,  of  the  Second  Church,  the  women 
who  braved  opposition  to  come,  outnumbered  the  men  as  six 
to  one,  and  even  to  this  day  a  suggestive  disproportion  is  some- 
times found. 

In  the  matter  of  contributions  to  the  support  of  the  ministry, 
they  have  borne  an  essential  part,  and  their  pecuniary  aid  has 
helped  to  rear  all  the  church  buildings,  from  the  log  house  down 
to  the  new  chapel.  In  the  grace  of  hospitality,  when  entertain- 
ing strangers  savored  so  much  of  drudgery,  the  pioneer  women 
kept  their  doors  wide  open  to  the  pilgrim  ministry  of  the  early 
times,  desiring  as  payment  only  the  good  man's  prayers  and 
blessings  upon  their  households.  Will  the  plea  of  "  no  room  "  in 
the  house  for  the  Lord's  messengers  suffice  for  withholding  such 
gracious  influences  from  the  lives  of  the  little  ones  in  the  stately 
mansions  of  to-day  ? 

The  care  and  attention  to  many  details  of  church  service  rested 
largely  upon  its  women.  It  was  during  the  first  quarter  of  the 
century  that  Mrs.  Gen.  O'Hara  replaced  the  common  bowl  then 
used  upon  baptismal  occasions,  with  one  of  silver  belonging  to 
her  own  tea  service,  which,  still  in  use,  has  become  consecrated 
by  countless  associations  and  tender  memories. 


woman's  work  in  the  first  church.  173 

It  has  been  a  genuine  cause  for  gratitude,  that  believing  parents 
in  this  church  have  not  been  remiss  to  their  covenant  obligations, 
and  that,  as  a  rule,  a  goodly  row  of  babies  is  presented  to  receive 
the  precious  ordinance,  and  to  delight  the  hearts  of  those  who 
pray  for  the  prosperity  of  Zion. 

The  early  communion  salver  and  cups,  and  the  linen  for  the  long 
tables,  were  also  gifts  from  the  same  generous  donor.  The  care 
of  this  sacramental  service  is  interwoven  with  a  long  line  of 
loving  ministries.  The  silver  was  polished  for  years  by  a 
daughter  of  one  of  the  elders,  and  the  bread  was  carefully  pre- 
pared by  one  of  the  Lord's  hidden  ones,  until  prevented  by  the 
infirmities  of  age.  The  time-hallowed  custom  still  preserved  in 
this  church,  of  seating  communicants  at  tables  extending  through 
the  aisles,  gave  additional  care  to  some,  who  counted  it  a  privilege 
to  keep  the  linen  whole  and  white,  freed  from  spot  or  wrinkle  or 
any  such  thing.  When,  lately,  some  linen  that  had  been  used 
from  time  immemorial  had  been  stolen,  the  ruthless  invasion 
■of  sacred  memories  was  most  deeply  felt  by  the  devout  women 
of  the  church,  who  cherished  its  impressive  communion  services 
and  all  the  accessories,  with  most  loyal  and  fervent  devotion. 

In  the  Sabbath  School  the  part  perseveringly  sustained  by 
women,  has  proved  indispensable  and  most  efficient.  One  who 
has  never  known  any  other  church  home,  writes  that  of  old, 
""the  upper  school  room  Avas  furnished  with  long  hard  benches, 
and  classes  were  not  so  easily  managed  as  now,  when  the 
teacher  is  partly  surrounded  by  the  scholars.  Mrs.  Wilkins 
had  a  large  class  of  boys,  and  Mrs.  Barnet,  afterwards  Mrs. 
Malin,  a  similar  one  of  girls  on  each  side  of  the  pulpit.  All 
the  teachers  were  supplied  with  ratans  as  pointers,  for  at  first 
picture  cards  were  used.  The  rods  were  retained  and  used  by 
the  two  above  mentioned,  to  attract  the  wandering  attention 
of  their  scholars."  Some  leading  citizens  can  still  testify  to 
the  sensations  caused  by  a  sudden  tap  upon  their  restless  heads, 
and  some  demure  matrons  can  well  remember  the  blushes,  smiles, 
and  even  tears,  called  forth  by  a  similar  reminder,  the  large 
bonnet  of  the  time  serving  to  conceal  the  emotions  as  well  as  to 
modify  the  sharpness  of  the  stroke.  Modern  appliances  and 
methods  of  teaching  have  been  gradually  adopted,  and  the 
infants  of  later  days,  under  the  wise  and  faithful  care  of  Mrs. 
Murphy,  are  kept  too  fully  occupied  with  blackboard  exercises 


174  woman's  work  in  the  first  church. 


and  singing,  not  forgetting  occasional  lessons  on  missions,  tem- 
perance, and  even  liberality  to  their  pastor,  to  find  much 
"mischief  still  for  idle  hands  to  do." 

A  reminiscence  is  furnished  by  Mrs.  Dr.  Smith,  one  of  the 
daughters  of  Dr.  Herron,  of  some  other  teaching  undertaken  by 
women. 

"  I  have  a  dim  remembrance  of  a  school  called  the  "Adelphi,"  for 
the  instruction  of  poor  children  in  reading  and  writing,  sewing 
and  knitting ;  taught  by  the  young  ladies  of  the  church,  among 
whom  was  Miss  O'Hara,  (Mrs.  Harmar  Denny,)  Mrs.  Dr.  Camp- 
bell, Miss  Milnor  and  several  others.  I  do  not  know  how  the 
school  was  supported. 

"In  this  connection  I  should  mention  two  ladies,  the  Misses 
Cowles,  from  New  England,  who  came  to  open  a  school  for  girls. 
They  were  very  poor,  and  remained  at  our  house  until  a  suitable 
house  could  be  obtained.  They  proved  devoted,  self-denying, 
useful  in  every  good  work.  As  teachers  they  were  esteemed  for 
the  religious  knowledge  imparted." 

Industrial  schools  have  been  maintained  from  time  to  time,  and 
are  still  used,  to  accomplish  the  double  purpose  of  elevating  the 
mission  classes  and  of  attaching  them  more  closely  to  the 
church. 

Thus  by  prayer,  precept  and  example  the  women  have  con- 
tributed large  supplies  to  the  strongest  currents  of  spiritual  life, 
and  have,  in  addition  to  all  these,  made  the  name  of  the  church 
honorable  by  a  generous  support  and  wise  management  of  the 
numerous  charitable  institutions  of  the  city. 

So  thoroughly  identified  are  they  with  all  public  charities,  that 
it  is  safe  to  assert,  that  either  as  managers  or  contributors,  some 
of  them  may  be  found  connected  with  every  unsectarian  benevo- 
lent enterprise  in  the  neighborhood. 

Of  the  long  line  of  faithful  women  who  have  thus  labored  in 
the  Lord,  two  lives  stand  out  in  clear  relief,  and  two  names  will 
be  inevitably  suggested :  Mrs.  Harmar  Denny  and  Mrs.  Mary 
Wilkins.  It  will  not  be  too  much  to  say  of  Mrs.  Denny,  that 
next  to  the  name  of  Dr.  Herron,  hers  will  be  found  most  inti- 
mately interwoven  with  the  real  life  of  the  church  as  experienced 
during  the  last  two  generations.  From  the  age  of  nineteen,  when, 
with  her  mother,  she  professed  her  faith  in  Christ,  her  whole  life 
wa^  turned  with  singular  sincerity  and  devotion  to  His  service. 


woman's  work  in  the  first  church.  175 

and  continued  undiminished  until  her  pilgrimage  of  more  than 
four-score  years  was  ended.  Full  of  love  for  the  word  of  God, 
she  taught  many  of  the  daughters  of  the  church  to  prize  and 
practice  its  holy  precepts.  While  freely  giving  of  her  means 
to  every  good  object,  she  found  time,  even  when  surrounded 
by  pressing  family  cares,  to  give  attention  and  counsel  to  many 
important  benevolent  societies ;  being  President  of  one,  the  Alle- 
gheny Orphan  Asylum,  from  its  founding,  during  the  remaining 
half  century  of  her  own  life.  Simple  and  unostentatious  in  mat- 
ters of  taste  and  expenditure,  her  example  has  made  the  occu- 
pants of  the  pews  of  what  lias  often  been  called  "  the  aristocratic 
First  Church"  conspicuous  as  least  given  to  display.  She  was 
adorned  with  the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,  and  clothed 
with  humility.  Who  now  is  fitted  to  worthily  wear  her  mantle  ? 
With  the  name  of  Mrs.  Mary  Wilkins  our  smiles  and  tears  are 
unconsciously  mingled.  Her  vivacity  and  beauty  doubtless 
added  largely  to  the  peculiar  ministry  of  good  Avorks  she  rendered 
this  church  and  community  during  her  long  life  of  Christian 
activity.  How  her  image  rises  before  the  minds  of  the  long 
succession  of  Sabbath  School  children  that  passed  under  her  care ! 
The  stranger  in  our  midst  rarely  failed  to  receive  her  friendly  wel- 
come, and  her  presence  in  social  and  church  gatherings  was  always 
felt.  As  representing  this  church  in  connection  with  various 
benevolent  institutions,  Mrs.  General  Robinson  stood  side  by  side 
with  Mrs.  Denny  and  Mrs.  Wilkins.  Her  ready  wit  and  re- 
markable judgment,  combined  with  careful  attention  to  details, 
made  her  counsel  most  valuable  in  the  perplexities  and  trials 
which  environ  every  newly  organized  charity.  She  filled  the 
position  of  Treasurer  of  the  Orphan  Asylum  from  its  beginning 
throughout  the  remaining  years  of  her  long  and  useful  life. 
Daughters  of  the  second  and  even  the  third  generation  of  these 
and  other  noble  founders  of  our  benevolent  institutions  are  to-day 
filling  their  most  important  offices. 


If  we  wish  to  find  the  beginning  of  organized  missionary 
work  among  the  women  of  the  First  Church,  we  must  go  back 
to  1828  or  '29,  and  find  it  in  a  band  of  three  school  girls. 

Mary  Jane  Craig,  afterwards  Mrs.  Orr. 
Hannah  Laughlin,  afterwards  Mrs.  J.  Kea. 
Susan  Irwin,  afterwards  Mrs.  Travelli. 


176  woman's  work  in  the  first  church. 


It  was  not  long  after  the  remarkable  revival  of  1827.  These 
little  girls  became  interested  in  missions  by  reading  the  Youth's 
Magazine,  edited  by  Rev.  Job  Halsey,  and  largely  devoted  to 
missionary  work.  They  began  their  work  by  making  pen  wipers, 
which  they  sold  to  their  schoolmates  at  five  cents  a  piece.  On 
hearing  what  they  were  doing,  one  of  their  teachers  remarked 
that  all  their  profits  would  be  but  a  mite,  so  they  adopted  that 
as  their  name,  and  were  called  the  "  Mite  Society." 

This  was  the  first  Juvenile  Missionary  Society.  Rev.  Job 
Halsey  and  Rev.  Elisha  P.  Swift  took  much  interest  in  this 
effort,  and  helped  by  their  advice.  They  were  soon  joined  by 
others. 

The  next  names  on  the  roll  are  : 

Mary  Herron,  afterwards  Mrs.  Smith. 
Mary  Denny,  afterwards  Mrs.  Spring. 
Isabella  Craig,  afterwards  Mrs.  Comingo. 

Still  their  number  did  not  exceed  eight  or  ten.  They  enlarged 
their  business  by  making  all  sorts  of  fancy  articles,  children's 
clothing,  etc.  In  1833,  having  accumulated  quite  a  stock  of 
these  articles,  they  were  placed  in  a  basket,  and  carried 
from  house  to  house  by  Miss  Isabella  Craig,  (Mrs.  Comingo.) 
In  this  way  thirty  dollars  was  realized,  which  was  given  to 
Rev.  Wm.  M.  Thompson,  then  just  starting  off  as  a  Missionary 
to  Syria.  He  is  the.  author  of  that  valuable  work,  "The  Land 
and  the  Book,"  and  his  daughter  is  now  one  of  the  teachers  in 
the  Seminary  for  Arab  girls  in  Beirut. 

In  the  Foreign  Missionary  Chronicle  of  that  same  year,  we 
also  find  this  entry : 

"Society  of  young  ladies  of  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Pittsburgh, 
to  constitute  their  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Herron,  life  member,  $30." 

In  the  Chronicle  for  January,  1836,  we  find  this  notice: 

Organization  of  the  Young  Ladies'  Missionary  Society  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  Pittsburgh,  auxiliary  to  the  Western  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society,  took  place  in  the  lecture  room  of  the  First  Church, 
November  12th,  1836. 

Prayer  by  Dr.  Herron. 

Officers:  President,  Miss  Isabella  Craig;  Vice  President,  Miss  Mary 
Herron;  Secretary,  Miss  Hannah  P.  Laughlin  ;  Treasurer,  Miss  Jane 
Buchanan ;  Agent,  Miss  Nancy  Caldwell. 


woman's  work  in  the  first  church.  177 

They  then  met  regularly  once  a  week  at  the  members'  houses, 
and  in  1840  had  their  first  "Annual  Sale,"  the  name  "Fair" 
not  being  allowed.  Their  advertisement  was  written  in  rhyme, 
by  Mr.  John  B.  Newell,  long  a  member  of  the  choir,  and  who 
died  within  a  few  years- 
It  has  fortunately  been  preserved,  and  in  style  and  sentiment 
is  an  excellent  model  for  the  use  of  succeeding  generations  of 
wise  hearted  women  and  maidens  in  their  labor  for  the  Lord. 


TheYoung  Ladies'  Missionary  Sewing  Society,  connected  with  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church,  will  hold  a  sale  of  useful  and  fancy  articles  in  the  lover  room  of 
the  new  building  attached  to  th<<t  church,  on  Thursday  evening,  the  24th  inst., 
commencing  at  seven  o'clock;  mid  to  all  who  may  be  disposed  to  aid  their  efforts, 
respectfully  tender  their 

CARD  OF  INVITATION. 

Friends  and  neighbors,  "all  hail," 

Won't  you  come  to  our  sale, 
And  examine  the  tasteful  variety 

Of  things  useful  and  gay, 

Which  we  mean  to  display, 
And  all  made  by  the  Sewing  Society  ? 

Ladies,  come  one  and  all, 

And  give  us  a  call ; 
We  are  sure  you  will  not  find  us  dear  : 

Our  prices  are  low, 

And  our  work,  we  well  know, 
Is  as  good  as  you  find  anywhere. 

Come,  gentlemen,  too, 

We  have  something  for  you  : 
Such  as  guards,  kerchiefs,  collars  and  purses, 

Witli  many  more  trinkets, 

We  sincerely  think  its 
Too  hard  e'en  to  name  in  our  verses. 

We  don't  call  it  a  "  Fair," 

Though  fair  dealing  you'll  share, 
And  your  change  you  shall  justly  be  paid. 

Whilst  we  will  not  employ 

Any  arts  to  annoy, 
Those  who  kindly  may  give  us  their  aid. 


178  woman's  work  in  the  first  church. 

Little  folks,  you'll  be  there, 

We  have  things  that  you  wear ; 
Such  as  mittens,  and  muslins,'  and  socks, 

And  some  aprons  and  caps, 

Which  you're  wanting  perhaps, 
And  some  dolls,  too,  and  little  girls'  frocks. 

We  wish  it  well  understood, 

That  our  variety  is  good, 
And  we  hope  you'll  be  pleased  while  you  stay, 

And  we  think  it  is  meet 

To  have  something  to  eat, 
And  that  none  need  go  hungry  away. 

You  will  not  repent 

For  the  time  you  '11  have  spent 
In  paying  our  sales-room  a  visit ; 

For  something  to  look  at, 

To  eat,  or  to  laugh  at, 
We  think  you  will  find,  you  can't  miss  it. 

Then  come  one  and  all, 

And  give  us  a  call  ; 
We  think  you'll  have  not  to  regret. 

Remember  our  sale 

Will  take  place  without  fail, 
On  Christmas  Eve  :  So  don't  forget. 

Christmas  Ere,  1840. 
■ftS'Advocate  and  American,  please  copy. 

Work  was  usually  begun  early  in  the  afternoon,  but  when 
the  time  for  the  sale  approached,  it  was  continued  until  nine 
o'clock.  That  being  the  orthodox  hour  for  dispersing,  they 
wended  their  way  home  by  the  light  of  the  modest  lantern,  no 
gas  or  electric  light  to  guide  them  through  the  streets  which 
were  little  improved,  and  great  care  had  to  be  taken  lest  a 
mis-step  should  find  them  over  shoe-top  in  mud.  The  members 
subscribed  fifty  cents  a  year,  and  were  fined  for  absence. 
Only  two  gentlemen,  Capt.  Beer  and  Mr.  W.  R.  Murphy,  aided 
them  in  annual  subscriptions,  and  with  these  exceptions  the 
money  was  all  earned  by  their  own  hands.  The  "Sales"  were 
all  held  in  the  lower  Sunday  School  room,  the  only  refresh- 
ments being  ice  cream  and  cake.  Yet  the  earnings  of  one  year 
amounted  to  eight  hundred  dollars !  The  proceeds  were  equally 
divided  between  Home  and  Foreign  Missions. 


woman's  work  in  the  first  church.  179 


Fully  to  appreciate  the  work  done  by  these  women,  "we  must 
remember  that  it  was  long  before  the  advent  of  the  sewing 
machine,  and  that  there  were  no  stores  for  ready-made  clothing. 
Many  a  woman  was  weary  enough  of  "seam,  and  gusset,  and 
band,  and  band,  and  gusset,  and  seam,"  to  "fall  asleep  over 
the  buttons,"  and  call  herself  excused  from  any  stitch  not 
required  in  her  own  household. 

Before  the  first  sale,  Mrs.  Barnett  had  assembled  her  Sabbath 
School  class,  and  producing  a  paper  funnel,  said  she  wanted  to 
give  to  each  one,  rich  and  poor  alike,  something  to  spend  at 
the  sale,  remarking  that  she  did  not  think  they  had  money  of 
their  own.  She  then  distributed  a  new  ten  cent  piece  to  each 
girl.  The  class  was  large,  and  must  have  produced  a  sensation 
when  they  marched  into  the  lower  room.  The  generous  deed 
and  sensible  proceedings  are  worthy  of  imitation  at  the  present 
time.  As  years  went  on  the  Society  devoted  itself  mainly  to 
Home  Missionary  work.  Fancy  articles  were  still  made,  but 
the  public  sales  were  abandoned  for  many  years.  The  custom 
of  sending  a  basket  from  house  to  house,  was  practised  at 
intervals,  and  was  always  successful.  A  rosy-cheeked  son  of 
the  pastor  (Charlie  Scovel,)  had  charge  of  it  several  times,  and 
his  account  of  the  remarks  made  by  the  buyers  is  very  amus- 
ing. The  money  was  almost  always  used  in  preparing  boxes 
of  clothing  for  missionaries,  which,  for  many  years,  were  packed 
at  the  store  of  one  (D.  Cooper  &  Co.)  whose  thoughtful  kindness 


has  been  unfailing. 


Upon  several  occasions  Indian  schools  were  supplied  with 
clothing.     The  cloth  suits  cut  by  a  tailor  and  sewed  by  the  ladies. 

Two  meetings  for  this  purpose  were  held  at  the  house  of  the 
pastor,  (Dr.  Paxton,)  then  living  on  Union  avenue,  Allegheny. 
Although  the  regular  meetings  were  now  held  in  the  Session 
room,  where  wraps  were  removed  to  facilitate  sewing,  extra 
meetings  were  occasionally  held  at  private  houses.  Two  such 
were  held  at  the  house  of  one  who,  as  one  of  the  band  of 
little  girls,  laid  the  foundations  of  the  present  Society  in  1829. 

Preparation  was  there  made  for  the  outfit  of  Rev.  and  Mrs. 
Albert  O.  Johnston,  who  were  among  the  Cawnpore  martyrs. 
They  had  the  pleasure  of  having  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnston  take 
tea  with  them  on  one  of  these  evenings.  A  little  matter  to 
record,  but  pleasant    now    to    remember  as    significant    of  the 


180 


woman's  work  in  the  first  church. 


heart  that  was  put  into  the  deeds,  and  which  doubtless  cheered 
the  brave  missionaries,  whose  touching  faith  in  the  anguish  of 
suspense  which  preceded  their  martyrdom,  has  made  their 
names  a  precious  legacy  to  the  church  of  God. 

The  work  of  the  Society  increased  year  by  year,  and  the 
contributions  were  surprisingly  large. 

How  far  have  we,  of  later  years,  with  our  largely  increased 
members,  with  our  more  abundant  leisure,  our  more  abundant 
means,  our  greater  facilities,  and  with  wide  open  doors  on  every 
side,  followed  in  their  footsteps  ?  Let  every  woman  in  the  con- 
gregation put  the  question  to  her  conscience— but  before  she 
answers,  let  her  compare  the  figures,  eight  hundred  dollars  in 
one  year  !  Our  average,  with  the  help  of  Sabbath  School  bands, 
for  the  past  eighteen  years,  is  but  $1,266.  Without  that 
help  it  would  not  be  much  over  $800.  Have  we  done  what 
we  could? 

It  is  recorded  that  "in  1850,  a  Juvenile  Society,  formed  of 
Sabbath  School  scholars,  was  organized  through  the  influence  of 
Miss  Matilda  Denny.  Miss  Hannah  Laughlin,  now  Mrs.  Dr. 
John  Rea,  presided,  opening  .  the  meetings  with  devotional 
exercises,  and  was  succeeded,  after  her  marriage,  by  Miss 
Melizina  Denny,  now  Mrs.  Brereton. 

Members :  Matilda  Denny,  Carrie  St.  Clair  Denny,  now  Mrs.  Du  Barry, 
Agnes  Mahon,  Mary  Robinson,  now  Mrs.  Shoenberger,  Belle  Carotbers, 
now  Mrs.  Talmadge,  Julia  De  Kay  Morgan,  now  Mrs.  Beach,  Olivretta 
Graham,  now  Mrs.  Singer,  Agnes  Clarke,  now  Mrs.  Kennedy,  Amelia 
Neville  Chaplin,  Annie  M.  Arthurs,  Janie  T.  Brooks. 

The  meetings  were  profitable  and  pleasant.  Fancy  Avork  was 
made  and  sold  for  the  benefit  of  missions,  and  affectionate 
interest  was  shown  their  two  pastors,  Dr.  Herron  and  Dr. 
Paxton,  by  presenting  each,  in  1851,  a  pair  of  slippers  wrought 
by  their  own  hands.  When  school  days  were  ended,  they 
joined  the  parent  Society — and  several  are  yet  there,  engaged 
in  the  delightful  work.     (Miss  Janie  Brooks.) 

We  can  claim  the  first  missionaries  who  actually  went  to  work 
under  the  Western  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  for  the  women 
of  the  First  Church. 

Rev.  Jno.  Lowrie  and  Rev.  Wm.  Reed  received  their  appoint- 
ments earlier,  but  did  not  get  to  work  as  soon  as  Rev.  Joseph 
Kerr. 


"woman's  avork  in  the  first  church.  181 

Rev.  J.  Kerr  was  married  October  15th,  1833,  in  the  old  church, 
to  Miss  Mary  Jane  Caldwell,  and  accompanied  by  Miss  Nancy 
Henderson,  also  a  member  of  this  church,  went  out  to  Indian 
Territory  and  there  established  the  first  station  of  that  Board 
among  the  Wea  Indians,  where  they  labored  successfully  for  sev- 
eral years.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kerr  are  still  living,  and  last  October 
celebrated  their  golden  wedding.  Although  Mr.  Kerr  has  but 
partial  use  of  his  right  hand,  he  has  kindly  written,  giving  some 
account  of  their  journey  and  work,  and  expressing  their  interest 
in  our  anniversary. 

To  the  next,  the  First  Church  of  Allegheny  will  doubtless  dis- 
pute our  claim.  But  Susan  Irwin  was  one  of  the  three  little 
girls  who  in  1828  founded  the  Young  Ladies'  Mission  Society. 
She  afterwards  became  a  member  of  the  First  Church  of  Alle- 
gheny. She  married  Rev.  J.  S.  Travelli,  and  in  July  of  1836 
sailed  for  Singapore,  India,  where  they  arrived  after  a  voyage  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  days.  There  she  was  at  the  head  of  a 
boarding  school  numbering  fifty  or  sixty  pupils,  over  whom  she 
is  said  to  have  had  great  influence.  She  not  only  had  the  care  of 
the  school,  but  was  mother  and  sister  to  the  entire  Mission.  As 
there  was  constant  sickness  among  the  missionaries,  her  cares 
were  very  arduous.  After  five  years  of  toil  her  health  was  en- 
tirely broken  down  and  she  was  obliged  to  return  to  this  country 
alone.     Some  time  afterwards  Mr.  Travelli  also  returned. 

The  next  is  one  who  is  still  lovingly  remembered  by  many  in 
the  congregation.  Cornelia  Brackenridge  was  young,  beautiful, 
highly  cultivated,  and  surrounded  at  home  by  everything  that 
could  make  life  attractive.  She  was  a  great  favorite  in  society, 
and  those  who  were  her  companions  still  speak  tenderly  of  her 
affectionate  disposition,  her  sprightliness  of  manner  and  her  ac- 
complishments as  well  as  her'personal  beauty.  While  yet  a  mere 
child  of  thirteen,  she  united  with  the  church  in  company  with 
her  father  and  mother.  She  afterwards  became  an  active  and 
successful  Sabbath  School  teacher  both  in  the  First  and  Seventh 
Churches,  and  those  who  were  privileged  to  be  her  scholars  still 
hold  her  in  affectionate  remembrance.  In  May,  1846,  she  married 
the  Rev.  Wm.  Speer  and  sailed  for  China  in  August  of  the  same 
year.  Owing  to  adverse  winds  the  voyage  occupied  five  long 
months.  The  confinement  of  the  voyage  completely  broke  down 
her  health,  and  on  the  16th  of  the  April  following  (1847)  she 


182  woman's  work  in  the  first  church. 


died  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-four  years.  The  day  her  friends 
at  home  received  the  news  of  her  safe  arrival,  was  also  the  day 
of  her  death.  She  is  buried  in  the  beautiful  cemetery  of  Macao, 
belonging  to  the  East  India  Company,  beside  the  graves  of  the 
Morrisons,  Dr.  Dyer  and  others,  and  on  the  8th  of  July,  1847, 
her  babe  was  laid  beside  her.  Beautiful  and  useful  was  her  life, 
and  her  death  was  radiant  with  hope  and  trust  in  the  Lord. 
Though  earnestly  desiring  to  glorify  God  in  the  missionary  field, 
she  expressed  herself  as  "  willing  by  His  grace  to  suffer,  recover, 
or  die."  God  chose  that  she  should  glorify  Him  by  her  suffer- 
ings and  death,  and  did  not  even  allow  her  to  see  her  chosen 
field.  Yet  may  not  her  death,  like  that  of  Harriet  Newell,  have 
been  silently  instrumental  in  causing  the  spread  of  the  gospel, 
and  which  is  now  so  signally  blessed  to  the  Chinese  women  of 
Canton  ? 

For  a  long  period  all  special  efforts  and  gifts  by  the  women 
for  Foreign  Missions,  were  made  through  the  old  Domestic 
Missionary  Society.  It  naturally  became  a  centre  from  which 
many  and  varied  needs  for  occasional  help  was  supplied, 
though  it  never  failed  to  adhere  to  its  charter,  in  annually 
preparing  missionary  boxes.  One  such,  of  more  than  ordinary 
interest,  was  sent  through  the  Society,  at  the  expense  of  one 
member,  (Mrs.  Harmar  Denny,)  to  Miss  Sue  McBeth,  Mis- 
sionary to  the  Nez  Perces  Indians,  mainly  for  the  students  of 
her  "Theological  Seminary."  The  box  arrived  at  Lapwai  the 
night  before  the  four  licentiates  had  to  start  for  Presbytery 
at  Portland,  Oregon.  Their  devoted  teacher  having,  by  her 
faithful  instructions,  well  furnished  them  in  the  inner  man, 
had  a  true  feminine  satisfaction  in  seeing  them  completely 
clad  from  head  to  foot,  in  clothing  appropriate  for  an  intro- 
duction to  their  clerical  brethren  of  the  far  away  Presbyterv. 
Her  grateful  letter  of  acknowledgment  contained  a  photograph 
of  the  group  for  their  unknown,  but  kind  hearted  benefactors. 
One  of  these  four  Nez  Perces  ministers,  James  Rubens,  re- 
cently stood  before  the  General  Assembly  and  large  audiences 
elsewhere,  to  plead  for  his  people,  and  another,  Archie  Lawyer, 
has  expended  large  sums  in  restoring  some  of  his  grossly 
wronged  tribe  to  their  former  home. 

At  the  memorable   time   when    the    heart  of  the  nation  was 
stirred  by  the  sound  of  war,  and  troops  marched    through  our 


woman's  work  in  the  first  church.  183 

streets,  and  wounded  soldiers  filled  our  hospitals,  this  Society 
turned  willingly  aside  from  its  peaceful  pursuits  to  make 
flannels,  knit  socks,  pick  lint,  and  to  prepare  delicacies  to  be 
distributed  by  the  Sanitary  Commission.  One  memorable  meet- 
ing was  held  at  the  house  of  one  of  our  elders,  Mr.  Samuel 
Rea,  where  several  sewing  machines  and  many  hands  were 
kept  busy  from  morning  till  night.  The  strongest  had  need  of 
her  strength,  and  the  weakest  might  not  slacken,  at  a  time 
when  every  heart  was  strained  with  fears  for  the  government, 
and  with  anguish  unutterable  over  the  daily  bulletins  of  the 
wounded  and  dead,  fresh  from  the  battle   fields   far  and  near. 

At  other  times,  when  the  regular  season's  work  was  over, 
untiring  hands  were  ready  to  make  up  and  alter  clothing  for 
Sabbath  School  scholars,  for  the  always  needy  Orphan  Asylums, 
and  for  much  work  of  a  similar  character,  thus  exemplifying 
the  text,  "Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy 
might."  Among  the  many  capable  women  and  wise  managers 
of  this  Society,  no  one  is  more  affectionately  remembered  than 
Mrs.  John  D.  McCord,  whose  own  diligence,  combined  with  rare 
graces  of  heart  and  mind,  made  her  a  good  example  to  follow.  Her 
loss  was  keenly  felt  when  she  removed  to  another  city.  A  unique 
and  suggestive  record  would  be  presented  if  a  complete  list  of 
donations,  work,  etc.,  had  been  preserved  from  first  to  last. 

Horses,  buggies  and  a  cow  have  been  bought,  a  roof,  a  floor 
and  doors  for  a  missionary's  house  provided  ;  churches  have 
been  carpeted,  cushioned  and  lighted  ;  pulpits  have  been  furnished 
with  Bibles,  Hymn  Books  and  communion  service  also,  to  com- 
plete the  appointments  of  the  house  of  worship.  School  houses 
have  been  built  and  rooms  furnished  in  different  boarding 
schools,  "Homes"  and  seminaries. 

The  work  has  passed  through  many  hands,  gone  on  for  many 
years,  and  gladdened  many  hearts,  all  the  time  bringing  a  sweet 
reward  to  those  who  did  it  from  love  to  Christ  and  in  fulfill- 
ment of  His  law,  "  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens." 

When,  in  1871,  a  general  movement  resulted  in  the  formation 
of  the  "  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,"  the  women  of  the  First  Church  of  Pittsburgh,  true  to 
the  spirit  and  tradition  of  their  goodly  ancestry,  were  quick  to 
hear  this  special  call,  and  before  the  close  of  the  year  they 
organized  a  distinctly  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  and  became 


184  woman's  work  in  the  first  church. 


enrolled  among  the  first  auxiliaries  to  the  new  Board.  Its  officers 
were : 

President,  Mrs.  S.  F.  Scovel ;  Secretary,  Mrs.  II.  D.  Mann  ;  Treasurer, 
Mrs.  W.  R.  Murphy. 

In  the  following  year  this  Society,  with  six  others,  united  in 
forming  the  Presbyterial  organization  known  as  the  Pittsburgh 
and  Allegheny  Committee  for  Foreign  Missions. 

Its  first  and  only  President  for  twelve  years,  and  still  its  honor- 
ary President,  is  Mrs.  H.  G.  Comingo,  who  in  1836,  as  Miss 
Isabella  Craig,  was  the  President  of  the  Young  Ladies'  Society 
of  the  First  Church,  and  who,  as  Principal  of  the  Infant  School, 
compiled  and  partly  composed  a  book  of  Hymns  for  its  use. 

The  original  meeting  for  organization,  all  the  monthly  meet- 
ings, and  most  of  its  annual  meetings,  have  been  held  upon  this 
spot,  where,  in  1831,  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  first  had  its 
birth. 

Greatly  stimulated,  doubtless,  by  this  circumstance  of  place  and 
leadership,  the  work  of  the  Committee  has  been  greatly  prospered' 
and  strong  helpful  agencies  here  begun  and  fostered,  have  pro- 
moted spiritual  growth,  and  secured  combined  effort  throughout 
the  Presbyteries  in  sending  the  gospel  to  all  lands. 

Large  meetings  of  women  in  connection  with  the  General 
Assemblies,  the  union  services  of  the  week  of  prayer,  with  gath- 
erings for  the  purpose  of  welcoming  and  hearing  the  missionaries 
from  the  field,  those  vital  and  visible  links  between  the  work 
abroad  and  the  workers  at  home,  have  been  attracted  hither  upon 
the  cordial  invitation  of  the  Foreign  Mission  Society  of  this 
church. 

The  object  of  this  society  was  to  develop  a  spirit  of  missions, 
as  well  as  to  contribute  to  their  support,  and  prayer  and  study 
have  been  controlling  elements  in  its  existence.  The  systematic 
conduct  and  devotional  character  of  its  meetings  soon  began  to 
be  felt  in  other  channels  of  church  work. 

Similar  methods  have  been  adopted  in  the  old  Domestic  (now 
the  Home)  Missionary  Society,  and  in  a  recent  organization 
known  as  the  "Woman's  Christian  Association,"  which  embraces 
committees  for  deacons'  aid  for  visiting  strangers,  the  sick  and  the 
poor,  for  church  sociables  and  for  industrial  classes.  A  woman's 
prayer  meeting,  that  inestimable  source  of  church  power,  was 
soon  afterwards  begun  and  is  faithfully  sustained. 


woman's  WORK  in  the  first  church.  185 

The  first  year  of  the  Foreign  Mission  Society  the  funds  were 
raised  by  subscription,  and  aided  in  building-  the  Louisa  Lowrie 
Home  for  Missionaries  at  Mynpoorie,  India.  The  next  year's  con- 
tributions were  applied  to  furnishing  the  Home,(the  Sunday  Schools 
giving  an  organ,)  and  in  addition  the  Society  began  the  support 
of  a  missionary,  pledging  an  annual  payment  of  four  hundred 
dollars  in  gold.  Mrs.  J.  A.  Alexander,  then  and  ever  since  a 
most  valued  member  of  the  Mission  of  Northern  India,  was  chosen 
to  be  its  representative  on  heathen  soil. 

In  1873  the  plan  of  holding  a  fair  was  adopted,  for  the  purpose 
of  gathering  up  the  littles  which  remain  after  regular  subscrip- 
tions and  occasional  contributions  are  secured.  This  proved  to 
be  most  successful,  and  became  specially  useful  in  promoting 
Christian  fellowship,  and  in  affording  every  one,  rich  and  poor, 
an  opportunity  to  unite  in  concentrated  labor  for  consecrated  giving. 

The  First  Church  women  count  themselves  privileged  in  per- 
petuating an  example  so  remarkably  well  begun  by  the  women 
of  the  first  half  of  the  century,  and  they  also  find  sacred  warrant  in 
the  cases  of  the  wise-hearted  Hebrew  women  who  spun  for  the 
tabernacle,  and  of  the  virtuous  woman  who  could  consider,  buy 
and  sell,  thereby  earning  honorable  mention  and  high  praise  in 
the  inspired  word.  In  the  thirteen  years  about  $11,000  have 
been  contributed  for  foreign  missions,  including  contributions 
from  young  peoples'  bands  and  societies.  One  distinctive  feature 
has  been  to  encourage  systematic  and  intelligent  giving  among 
the  younger  members  of  our  church  and  families. 

A  large  number  of  bands  and  circles  have  been  formed  from 
the  Sabbath  School  classes,  some  of  which  have  given  much  time 
and  study,  as  well  as  money,  to  the  cause  of  missions.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  trace  among  their  names  descendants  of  even  the 
third  and  fourth  generations  of  those  who  founded  this  church 
and  have  sustained  it  during  the  past.  The  youngest  of  these 
modern  societies,  formed  within  a  year,  must  have  a  place  in 
this  record..  It  is  called  the  "Scovel  Mission  Band,"  and  de- 
votional exercises,  studies,  and  sewing,  are  all  conducted  by  the 
young  girls  under  the  supervision  of  their  faithful  teacher,  Mrs. 
T.  C.  Pears.     Names  of  members  : 

President,  Anna  Waring ;  Vice  President,  Mary  Cochran  ;  Secretary, 
Burdette  Shephard ;  Treasurer,  Lizzie  Miller.  Mary  Davis,  Agnes 
Johnston,  Maud    Kreps,  Maud    Fundenberg,  Helen    Duff,  Anna  Lecky, 

13 


186  woman's  work  in  the  first  church. 


Jane    Lecky,  Nellie    Chalfant,  Annie    Chalfant,  Annie  Birch,  Cornelia 
Brackenridge  Ewart. 

The  best  contribution  from  our  young  people  was  one  of  their 
own  number  to  become  a  missionary  to  Japan.  Thirty  years  had 
passed  since  Mrs.  Speer  consecrated  her  life  to  the  cause  of 
missions,  and  now  another  came  forward  and  signified  her  will- 
ingness to  go  anywhere  or  do  anything  to  serve  the  Lord  among 
the  perishing  women  of  heathen  lands.  Miss  Anna  K.  Davis 
is  a  daughter  of  one  of  our  valued  elders,  was  baptized  in  the 
church,  and  early  in  life  gave  her  heart  to  the  Lord.  The 
friends  of  her  childhood  and  her  mother's  friends  had  the  pleasure 
of  assisting  in  preparing  her  outfit,  and  with  tears  and  prayers 
bade  her  good  bye  when  she  left  all  most  dear  on  earth  to  take 
up  her  life-work  in  Japan.  Since  then  she  has  been  faithfully 
engaged  in  teaching  in  a  girls'  school  at  Tokio.  Her  associate 
teachers  and  Japanese  pupils,  with  expressions  of  Oriental  fervor, 
have  testified  to  her  unusual  fidelity  and  her  strong  desire  to  win 
the  bright  native  girls  from  the  worship  of  idols  to  the  service  of 
the  living  God. 

One  more  addition  to  the  long  list  of  first  things  that  have  trans- 
pired within  the  precincts  of  the  First  Church,  is  a  little  meeting- 
held  in  connection  with  the  Assembly  of  1878,  which  after  some 
months  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  "  Woman's  Executive 
Committee  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church." 

Since  this  event,  the  old  Domestic  Society  of  this  church  has, 
in  addition  to  the  preparation  of  missionary  boxes  and  special 
gifts,  undertaken  the  support  of  a  missionary  teacher  in  Utah,  in 
which  it  is  aided  by  the  Third  Church  Society.  Thus  the  women 
have  sought  to  be  joined  to  every  good  word  and  work,  and  it  may 
be  that  this  whole-hearted  devotion  to  the  activities  of  the  church 
has  been  the  secret  of  that  delightful  spirit  of  harmony  for  which 
the  congregation  is  famed,  as  a  place  singularly  free  from 
troublers,  though  not  always  a  place  of  rest, 

May  the  chroniclers  of  "Woman's  Work"  in  the  second  cen- 
tury find  as  radiant  a  retrospect  to  record  as  have  those  of  the 
year  1884. 


DR.    PAXTON'S    A.DDRESS.  187 


DR.  PAXTON'S  ADDRESS. 


At  the  close  of  the  paper  on  Woman's  Work,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Paxton,  who  kindly  deferred  important  work  to  remain  with  the 
congregation,  was  called  upon. 

He  intimated  that  certain  humorous  stories  of  the  older  time,  kin- 
dred to  others  which  had  been  already  given,  had  been  floating 
through  his  mind,  and  he  had  thought  of  contributing  them  to  the 
occasion;  but  on  second  thought,  it  .seemed  best  not  to  close  so 
great  and  solemn  a  meeting  with  a  recital  of  that  nature.  His 
mind  had  been  particularly  drawn,  during  the  paper  of  Dr.  Speer, 
to  the  convention  of  1857.  It  was  a  revival  conference  in  the 
truest  and  highest  sense.  It  was  attended  by  many  representa- 
tive men  froin  the  three  large  neighboring  Synods.  A  remark- 
able sermon  was  preached  on  the  opening  evening.  But  next 
morning,  on  assembling,  the  anxiety  which  all  felt  seemed  so  deep 
as  almost  to  amount  to  discouragement,  and  the  services  went 
forward  most  earnestly  but  with  a  feeling  akin  to  depression. 
But  before  noon  had  arrived  it  seemed  as  though  the  exact  word  was 
given  by  the  Spirit  to  the  venerable  Dr.  Plumer.  He  directed  the 
attention  and  the  faith  of  the  convention  to  the  compassionate, 
the  risen  and  glorified  Christ.  The  name  of  "Jesus"  seemed  to 
waken  the  chords  of  tenderest  feeling  and  joyful  hope.  And 
other  work  of  the  Spirit  was  also  going  forward.  In  the  after- 
noon the  letter  of  the  convention  addressed  to  the  churches  of 
the  whole  region  was  read.  That  letter  Dr.  Jacobus  had  been 
commissioned  on  the  previous  day  to  prepare.  Keenly  he  felt 
the  responsibility  of  it  and  took  the  matter  to  God — it  is  said — 
with  "strong  crying  and  tears."  The  letter  was  written  after 
wrestling  in  thought  and  prayer  continued  until  midnight  and 


188  dr.  paxton's  address. 


beyond.  When  first  read  to  the  convention  it  was  deeply  im- 
pressive and  was  at  once  recognized  as  voicing  the  heart  of  that 
prayerful  assembly.  It  was  printed  and  read  in  hundreds  of 
churches.  This  letter,  and  many  other  results  of  the  convention, 
went  abroad  with  power.  The  great  movement  which  began 
soon  thereafter  has  been  largely  traced  to  their  influence.  It  is 
thought  that  the  Week  of  Prayer  originated  within  their  circle, 
through  the  touched  heart  and  strong  faith  of  the  Missionary 
Morrison,  in  India.  There  was  an  almost  simultaneous  outpour- 
ing of  the  Spirit  in  Philadelphia,  and  before  long  the  land  was 
ablaze. 

The  influence  of  the  convention  upon  the  First  Church  was 
direct  and  immediate.  Dr.  Paxton  shortly  thereafter  met  the 
one  we  were  accustomed  to  call  the  model  elder,  Mr.  Francis 
Bailey,  who  seemed  deeply  impressed  with  the  conviction  that 
an  immediate  and  great  blessing  was  impending.  He  said,  "Do 
you  know  that  Mr.  Beer  has  been  praying  all  night  ? "  His 
faith  was  strong  and  proved  well  founded.  Meetings  were  called. 
The  work  began  straightway  and  continued  long,  and  there  was 
a  large  ingathering.  The  convention  marked  a  period  of  great 
interest  in  the  church,  the  region,  and  even  in  the  world. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Swift,  who  presided,  closed  the  interesting  servi- 
ces with  a  brief  address  of  congratulation,  in  which  he  referred 
to  the  early  relations  sustained  by  the  First  Church  of  Pittsburgh 
and  the  First  Church  of  Allegheny,  and  expressed  the  best  wishes 
of  his  own  heart  and  of  the-people  of  his  charge  for  the  continued 
prosperity  of  the  church  now  celebrating  the  completion  of  its 
first  century.     The  benediction  was  pronounced  by  Dr.  Paxton. 


CHARACTERISTICS   AND    INCIDENTS.  189 


TUESDAY  AFTERNOON. 

April  15th,  1884. 


The  Rev.  E.  P.  Cowan,  pastor  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,  pi-e- 
sided,  and  conducted  the  devotional  services. 

The  Rev.  Richard  Lea,  D.  D.,  who  has  known  the  church  from  his 
boyhood  in  181o,  and  has  lived  throughout  his  pastoral  experience 
within  the  city,  and  has  known  much  of  the  surrounding  country  by 
traversing  it  as  Agent  for  the  Theological  Seminary,  and  been  intimately 
acquainted  with  many  of  the  worthies  of  the  whole  region,  read  a  paper, 
unique  and  characteristic — a  paper  which  no  one  else  could  have  prepared. 
It  is  as  follows  : 

CHARACTERISTICS   AND  INCIDENTS   IN  THE   HISTORY  OF 
THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  PITTSBURGH,  PA. 

BY    R.    LEA. 

One  hundred  years  ago  forts  and  towns  and  large  villages  were 
safe  from  regular  sieges  of  the  Indians — but  liable  to  surprises 
and  sudden  invasions.  Rev.  Marquis,  the  "silver  tongued,"  was 
lodging  at  the  house  of  the  late  Samuel  Ewalt,  just  above  where 
the  Arsenal  now  is.  One  night  Ewalt  said  to  his  guest,  "I  have 
observed  that  you  go  out  early  in  the  morning  to  the  large  syca- 
more to  pray.  Now  to-morrow  morning  pray  at  your  bedside  ! 
Signs  which  I  understand,  indicate  the  presence  of  Indians  at 
Girty's  run.  They  will  cross  the  river  in  darkness,  and  at  day- 
light to-morrow,  your  scalp  would  not  be  safe  outside  of  the 
house."  Marquis  either  forgot  the  warning  or  trusted  implicit)"  in 
God,  and  passed  through  the  chamber  of  his  host  at  early  dawn  to 
his  trysting  place.  Even  in  sleep  Ewalt  could  hear  the  passing 
step,  and  seizing  his  rifle,  followed.  Marquis  was  upon  his  knees 
unconscious  of  the  fact  that  the  hand  of  a  savage  was  raised  to 


190  CHARACTERISTICS   AND    INCIDENTS. 


hurl  the  tomahawk.  A  ball  crashed  through  the  throat  of  the 
Indian,  and  the  preacher  was  saved.  In  relating  this,  Ewalt  was 
accustomed  to  say,  "After  that  Marquis  did  good  service  in  the 
great  revivals.  Ain't  I  entitled  to  half  t  I  saved  his  life !  I 
know  I  am  not  good — but  half  of  his  good  deeds,  added  to  all  of 
mine,  will  make  one  pretty  safe."  Rev.  Porter,  of  Congruity,  used 
to  examine  his  rifle  before  he  announced  his  text.  Father 
Boyd  said,  "Once  I  was  going  to  preach  without  my  rifle,  when, 
to  my  horror,  a  painted  warrior  was  behind  a  tree,  on  one  side 
of  the  road.  To  call  for  aid  was  useless.  He  Avas  twice  my  size, 
and  armed.  So  I  pretended  not  to  see  him,  and  kneeled  down 
and  prayed.  Every  moment  I  expected  an  arrow,  or  his  toma- 
hawk. At  last  I  arose.  He  was  gone  !  Several  of  my  hearers 
arrived — we  saw  his  tracks  where  he  stood  and  when  he  turned 
to  go,  but  he  was  neither  seen  nor  heard  of  afterwards.  I  wa& 
saved,  but  never  passed  that  tree  afterwards  without  shuddering,, 
or  without  gratitude. 

Many  of  the  country  churches  had  pastors,  while  only  supplies 
were  appointed  to  a  log  church  which  stood  where  the  First 
Church  building  now  stands.  Some  of  these  supplies  were  not 
well  pleased  with  the  aristocratic  bearing  of  the  military  officers, 
nor  much  better  with  the  fashions  of  the  day,  nor  the  recklessness 
of  the  traders,  nor  with  the  drunkenness  and  profanity  so  greatly 
abounding.  Yet  the  preaching  in  that  log  house  was  noted  for 
its  faithfulness.  The  fiery  eloquence  of  -McCurdy  was  often- 
times very  effective.  The  wisdom  of  Barr  was  acknowledged. 
The  irresistible  logic  of  Anderson  always  commanded  respect. 
The  theme  most  dwelt  upon  by  these  early  supplies  was,  "A 
certain  and  eternal  hell  for  all  impenitent  sinners."  Some  of 
these  I  have  heard  preach.  Their  hell  was  as  local  as  heaven. 
Their  torment  and  flame — as  real  as  the  worm  which  never 
dieth,  and  the  fire  which  shall  never  be  quenched,  spoken  of 
by  the  Lord.  They  did  not  attempt  to  fill  up  the  impassible 
gulph,  nor  strive  to  enclose  the  bottomless  pit,  within  man's 
own  consciousness. 

Amidst  so  many  good  ministers,  was  any  one  the  acknow- 
ledged leader  ?  Undoubtedly  Dr.  John  McMillan.  Dr.  Ralston 
equaled  him  in  learning,  and  nearly  in  stature.  Several  were 
thought  to  excel  him  in  piety,  and  nearly  all  were  more  polite. 
But  he  had    the  indomitable    will — the    power   of   influencing 


CHARACTERISTICS    AND    INCIDENTS.  191 


others.  Crossing  the  mountains  on  foot,  leading  a  pack-horse 
loaded  with  his  wife,  child  and  few  effects,  he  settled  at 
Chartiers,  used  a  sugar  trough  for  a  cradle,  reared  his  cabin  with 
fearlessness.  As  Calvinistic  as  Cromwell — as  laborious  as  Wesley. 
With  a  voice  which  in  open  air  meetings  appeared  to  shake  the 
forest.  I  heard  one  aver  that  he  distinguished  the  words 
"sovereign  grace  of  God,"  a  mile  distant.  When  he  died  he 
wished  that  he  could  bequeath  his  lungs  to  serve  some  one 
another,  generation.  Twice  I  heard  him  in  the  First  Church. 
Dr.  Herron  helped  him  into  the  pulpit.  He  kept  on  his  broad 
brim  hat  until  he  reached  the  altar;  wore  a  shad  belly 
coat  and  breeches,  a  fashion  he  never  changed  ;  pulled  off  his 
bandanna  from  his  throat  and  began ;  soon  he  opened  his 
waistcoat,  displaying  a  breast  dripping  with  perspiration  ;  used 
no  arts  of  oratory — he  was  old — but  over  an  hour  he  held  his 
audience  breathless,  closed  unwearied  ;  walked  down  the  aisle, 
Mrs.  McDonald  taking  his  arm.  He  was  the  first  settled  pastor 
in  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh,  the  founder  of  Jefferson  College, 
and   introduced  many  into  the  ministry.     "A   King  of    Men." 

Pittsburgh  was  then  the  grand  trading  point.  At  the  foot  of  the 
Alleghenies  and  at  the  head  of  navigation,  it  allured  the  trader ; 
cheap  food  enticed  the  laborer  and  artisan  ;  our  physicians  and 
lawyers  were  eminent  ;  our  hotels  models  of  comfort ;  our 
rivers  were  stocked  with  fish,  and  surrounding  forests  with  game ; 
sometimes  clouds  of  wild  pigeons  darkened  the  air  ;  wild  honey 
and  maple  sugar  abounded  ;  fuel  boundless. 

The  city  grew,  and  soon  the  old  log  church  was  surrounded 
with  a  brick  edifice  ;  the  congregation  worshiping  as  usual, 
until  they  pulled  the  logs  through  the  windows  and  doors  of 
the  new  house.  It  is  reported  that  the  trustees  resorted  to  a 
lottery  to  obtain  funds.  If  so,  forgive  them,  please.  They  were 
not  acquainted  with  our  festivals,  balls,  chances,  and  various 
devices,  and  had  to  use  the  only  artifice  with  which  they  were 
familiar  to  operate  upon  pockets  closed  against  giving  upon 
principle.  The  brick  church  continued  to  occupy  a  large  space 
of  ground,  including  that  upon  which  "  Trinity  Church "  now 
stands.  How  pleasant  the  wide  sj)reading  trees  !  How  green 
the  sods  which  covered  the  graves  !  An  oasis  amidst  the  dust 
and  bustle  of  a  growing  city.  Old  Archie,  the  sexton,  prided 
himself  in  keeping  it  in  perfect  order  ;  his  tyranny  was  tolerated 


192  CHARACTERISTICS    AND    INCIDENTS. 

on  account  of  his  real  value.  He  took  special  pains  to  form 
the  grave  the  exact  size  and  shape  of  the  coffin.  ( >ne  day  Dr. 
Herron  expressed  to  him  his  wonder  that  he  could  measure  and 
fit,  to  an  inch,  so  perfectly  !  Archie  was  touched  in  his  weak 
spot,  and  replied,  "Ah  !  Dr.  you  may  well  say  it  is  a  beauty. 
No  man  in  the  county  could  match  it.  But  Dr.  when  you  die 
I  will  dig  a  far  handsomer  grave  for  you."  He  was  perfectly 
sincere  in  the  promise,  which  he  did  not  live  to  fulfill. 

Of  yore,  the  wealth  and  beauty  of  the  town  largely  attended 
Dr.  Steele's  church.  We  have  heard  him  described  as  a  good 
preacher ;  in  social  life  a  gentleman,  somewhat  tolerant  of  worldly 
fashions  ;  a  good  player  upon  the  violin  ;  indulgent  toward  erring 
members.  His  piety  was  not  cpiestioned,  but  in  the  great  revivals 
of  the  time,  his  name  comes  not  to  the  front.  We  have  heard  it 
advanced,  that  he  was  just  the  man  for  the  Pittsburgh  of  that 
day.  That  a  sterner  disciplinarian  could  not  have  held  together 
the  free  living,  talented,  fearless  ones  with  whom  he  had  to  do. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  he  lived  and  died  the  pastor  of  this  church. 
You  can  read  the  inscriptions  upon  the  tombstones  in  your  own 
yard  which  cover  his  remains  and  those  of  part  of  his  family.  In 
his  days  and  long  after,  Indians  displayed  their  skill  in  archery 
around  the  Point,  wandered  through  our  streets  at  night 
wdiooping,  and  when  they  returned  from  Congress,  successful  in 
their  claims,  would  engage  in  a  grand  war  dance,  at  the  foot  of 
Liberty  street.  I  can  remember  that  two  brothers  (white  men,) 
could  match  them  with  the  bow,  and  excel  them  with  the  rifle. 
Hinney  could  give  them  odds  in  a,  foot  race.  Plenty  could  outbox 
and  throw  them  down.  Numbers  could  drink  more  Avhiskey  and 
remain  standing,  and  many  boys  could  outsteal  and  outswear 
them.     The  Avhites  (hen  and  now  were  the  superior  race. 

Paupers  were  let  to  the  lowest  bidders ;  schoolmasters  were  skill- 
ful in  the  use  of  the  rod;  the  goods  of  defaulting  renters  were 
sold  by  Osborne,  the  Market  constable  ;  debtors  were  imprisoned, 
and  juries  starved  into  agreement.  In  the  country,  the  house  of 
God  was  more  reverenced — witness  their  names,  Bethlehem, 
Pisgah,  Sharon,  Mount  Carmel,  Rehoboth,  Beulah,  Bethany, 
Lebanon,  etc.  Are  there  not  "sermons  in  logs  as  well  as  stones ?" 
Communions  were  the  great  occasions,  several  congregations 
uniting.  The  prayer  was  long,  explanation  of  the  psalm  longer, 
sermons  longest.    McMillan  would  "  fence  the  tables"  until  no  one 


CHARACTERISTICS    AND    INCIDENTS.  193 


dare  approach ;  Anderson  would  open  a  door  of  hope  ;  Patterson 
would  invite  the  contrite;  McCurdy  and  Marquis  would  address 
the  rejecters  of  Christ.  The  people  would  start  early,  sit  all  day, 
sometimes  require  a  night  service,  and  yet  Bronchitis  unknown  ! 

Prof.  Halsey  once  said  in  class,  "  Young  gentlemen,  cultivate 
your  voices;  the  people  followed  the  voices  of  McMillan  and 
Marquis  as  an  army  marches  to  the  drum  and  fife." 

Patterson  and  Marquis  were  the  first  missionaries  sent  by  the 
Synod  of  Pittsburgh  to  the  North  Western  Indians.  On  their 
return, McMillan  said,  "How  did  you  get  on,  Patterson  ?"  "Well, 
we  started  with  no  provision  but  corn  meal  and  bear's  grease. 
My  stomach  soon  revolted  at  this  fare  ;  I  must  either  return  or 
get  sick.  So,  as  I  believe  in  special  prayer,  we  knelt  down.  I 
told  the  Lord  I  was  willing  to  serve  Him,  but  He  must  give  me 
something  which  I  could  eat,  or  I  would  die."  "  Did  He  answer 
your  prayer ? "  "Yes!"  "  What  did  He  give  you ? "  "Nothing 
better  to  eat."  "Then  how  ?"  "  Why  you  see  I  laid  down  in  His 
forest,  slept  safely  under  His  care,  and  when  I  awoke  He  had 
given  me  an  appetite  so  voracious  that  corn  meal*  and  bear's 
grease  tasted  good,  which  was  as  much  an  answer  to  prayer  as 
though  He  had  sent  me  beef  and  pudding." 

A  colony  from  Dr.  Steele's  pastorate  had  built  in  Diamond 
alley,  and  called  first  Rev.  Hunt,  then  Dr.  Swift,  and  Dr. 
Herron,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Steele,  was  called  to  the  First 
Church.  His  personal  appearance  in  youth  was  tall  and  slender, 
in  mid  life,  full  and  vigorous.  Rev.  Graham,  his  classmate, 
used  to  say,  "He  is  the  only  'preacher  I  would  fear  in  a  personal 
encounter.  He  is  all  bone,  all  muscle;  has  no  fear  and  would 
die  before  he  would  yield." 

Just  here  let  me  state:  At  that  time  Pittsburgh  had  fire 
engines  worked  by  hand.  A  line  of  men,  women  and  boys,  with 
fire  buckets,  would  form  and  work  heartily  passing  water  to  the 
engine  and  up  ladders  to  quench  the  burning.  On  one  of  these 
occasions,  the  Doctor  observed  two  young  men  calmly  surveying  the 
fire,  rather  promptly  left  the  line,  tapped  them,  not  in  the  gentlest 
manner,  upon  the  shoulder,  exclaiming,  "Young  men!  why  don't 
you  help  save  property,  perhaps  life  ?  "  They  were  two  young 
officers  of  the  army,  and  next  clay  sent  a  challenge  to  the  Doctor 
to  fight  a  duel.     While  he  was   considering  the  situation,  they, 


194  CHARACTERISTICS   AND   INCIDENTS. 

having  learned  his  profession,  entered  his  house  in  person  to 
■withdraw  the  challenge  and  tender  an  apology. 

The  Doctor  was  generally  too  busy  to  study.  In  debate,  prompt 
to  lead,  most  skillful  in  retreat.  Would  disarm  opponents  by 
frank  concession  ;  fond  of  Presbyterian  order  ;  ardently  desired 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  the  church.  Never  quarrel- 
some. A  perfect  gentleman.  He  assumed  the  place  in  Synod 
which  Dr.  McMillan  held  in  Presbytery,  i.  e.,  he  bossed — as 
nearly  as  Presbyterians  will  allow  themselves  to  be  governed — 
for  having  neither  Archbishop  nor  King,  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is 
the  only  one  they  will  implicitly  obey.  His  nospitality  was 
boundless.  Whatever  jealousy  might  have  existed  between  the 
First  and  Second  Churches,  A\as  speedily  extinguished.  His  large 
•heart  rejoiced  in  the  prosperity  of  everything  good,  and  Dr.  Swift 
loved  everything  like  the  Master.  These  two  noble  brethren 
used  to  shorten  their  own  exercises  upon  communion  days,  that 
one  could  aid  the  other,  with  as  many  of  the  people  as  chose  to 
follow. 

One  day,  perhaps  in  1823,  the  speaker  called  upon  Father 
Patterson.  "Do  you  know,"  said  Patterson,  "that  next  Sabbath 
is  communion  at  the  First  Church?"  "Yes."  "Do  you  intend  to 
join  the  church?"  "No!"  "Why?"  "lam  too  young,  only  thirteen."" 
"Too  young  to  sin — too  young  to  die  ?"  "I  am  not  fit  to  join !" 
"  How  long  would  it  take  you  to  become  fit,  if  you  staid  away 
from  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?"  Silence,  while  he  wrote  a  paper, 
handing  it  to  me.  It  read  nearly  like  this :  "  I,  on  this  date, 
deliberately  reject  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  "Sign  this,"  he  said 
solemnly.  "  I  cannot !  "  "  Why,  this  paper  would  be  a  true  record 
on  next  Monday,  with  this  change :  '  I  did  yesterday  reject 
Jesus,  openly' — the  very  thing  you  mean  now  to  do."  "Then  I 
will  not  reject  Him."  I  see  the  Session  now,  present  on  Saturday. 
Father  Cooper,  the  eldest ;  pale,  consumptive  Blair,  faithful  unto 
death  ;  Judge  Snowden,  whom  all  loved  ;  good  old  John  Hannen, 
an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  there  was  no  guile.  The  examina- 
tion was  short.  I  received  a  token,  and  on  Sabbath  a  long  table 
was  spread  down  the  middle  aisle,  shorter  ones  in  the  front  aisle,, 
forming  a  cross — Drs.  Herron  and  Swift  within  the  railing,  Pat- 
terson sitting  at  the  table,  the  elements  before  him.  Noiselessly 
the  elders  collect  the  leaden  tokens.  Patterson  begins  with 
prayer:     "We  thank  Thee  for  light,  water,  the  air,  these  elements 


CHARACTERISTICS    AND    INCIDENTS.  195 

of  Christ's  body  and  blood.  Thy  church  is  one  fold,  one  shep- 
herd. Some  of  the  under  shepherds  have  built  fences  across  the 
fold,  hindering  communion.  Crooked  man  made  fences.  Come, 
Jesus,  and  destroy  these  fences  which  hinder  inter-communion,  and 
make  Thy  people  one  with  Thee,"  Dr.  Herron  served  another 
table,  Dr.  Swift  a  third — each  one  making  a  short  address  at  the 
last.  Patterson  calling  upon  non-communicants  to  rejoice  in  the 
rejection  of  Jesus,  if  they  could.  Dr.  Herron  often  preached 
thrice  a  day  ;  also  strove  to  fill  his  pulpit  with  every  variety  of 
talent.  Henry  Bascom  poured  forth  his  eloquence,  so  long  con- 
tinued that  Archie  had  to  replenish  the  chandelier  with  candles. 
He  would  invite  the  Bar  to  hear  Robert  Brackenridge,  the  con- 
verted lawyer.  Dr.  Reuter  had  preached  a  sermon  in  the  Smithfield 
Street  Methodist  Church,  on  Jacob  and  Esau,  from  an  Arminirtn 
standpoint.  The  Doctor  invited  him  to  preach  it  for  him,  and 
urged  his  people  to  come  and  listen.  Dr.  Brown  and  the  pro- 
fessors of  the  Seminary  were  often  called  upon ;  and  Pro- 
fessor J.  W.  Nevin  gave  a  course  of  lectures  in  the  afternoons 
of  Sabbaths,  upon  the  "Analogy  of  Nature  and  the  Bible."  But 
at  ecclesiastical  meetings  he  prepared  a  choice  treat  for  his  people. 
Rev.  Lewis,  a  Welshman,  in  his  broken  English  would  say, 
"  God  will  not  graciously  adopt  a  child,  and  then  permit  him  to 
be  finally  lost  to  His  family.  A  lord  in  Ireland  had  everything 
in  his  castle  but  a  child.  A  poor  tenant  had  his  cabin  full  of 
children,  whom  he  could  hardly  feed.  The  noble  offered  the  peas- 
ant a  thousand  pounds  for  one  of  his  children,  whom  he  would 
adopt.  The  offer  was  cheerfully  accepted.  On  the  set  day  the 
lord  and  his  lady  came  to  make  their  'choice.  The  children, 
with  washed  faces,  stood  in  a  row.  'This  one,'  said  the  lord, 
pointing  to  the  eldest  boy.  'Oh,  no,  sir,  he  is  just  coming 
to  be  useful.'  'Then,'  said  the  lady,  'this  girl !'  'Oh,  no  !  she  is 
my  companion,'  pleaded  the  mother.  One  carried  the  father's 
dinner  ;  another  always  ran  to  meet  his  return  ;  another  was 
sickly  and  needed  nursing.  Not  one  could  be  spared.  '  Well, 
then,'  said  the  visitors, '  we'll  take  the  baby  !'  'Oh,  no  !  no  !  no  !' 
shouted  all  in  a  breath, '  we  cannot  spare  the  baby  ! '  Thus  spake 
parental  love,  even  when  the  change  appeared  so  beneficial 
to  the  child.  And  will  God  lose  one  of  His  children,  when  He 
can  so  easily  support  them  all  ?  No  !  Never !  Never  !  Not  even 
the  baby!" 


196  CHARACTERISTICS    AND    INCIDENTS. 

I  am  a  boy  again,  and  going  to  church  on  Sabbath  morning. 
We  are  late  and  the  Doctor  is  praying.  The  doors  open  and  shut 
with  a  creak  and  a  bang,  without  care,  and  the  Doctor  does  not 
meekly  endure  interruption.  A  number  of  us  are  waiting  until 
prayer  is  ended.  "How  far  is  lie  on,"  asks  a  new  arrival,  "  has  he 
got  to  the  dry  bones  yet?"  The  yes,  or  no,  determined  how  long 
we  had -to  wait,  for  he  hardly  ever  changes  his  morning  prayer. 
We  enter  on  the  right  hand,  and  find  Mrs.  Oliver,  with  her 
young  ladies — a  scat  full.  Mr.  Cameron,  a  devout  Highlander, 
and  family — Addison,  Sidney,  Tannehill,  Mountain,  the  elocpient 
lawyer  ;  Dr.  Speer  and  family  ;  Brackenridge,  a  son  of  the  well- 
known  judge  ;  McKee  and  Graham,  business  men  ;  Davis,  father- 
in-law  to  Dr.  Crumpton  ;  Mr.  Thaw,  the  banker,  and  family; 
Watson,  the  host  of  General  Wayne;  quiet  Mr.  Boggs,  and 
Wrenshaw  ;  James  Willson,  my  school  teacher  ;  Brown  ;  fashion- 
able Simpsons  ;  wise  Lorenz  ;  the  Woods,  Robinsons,  Crossan,  and 
Ramsey,  "mine  hosts;"  unassuming  Mr.  Brown  ;  Michael  Allen, 
with  his  eyes  shut  during  singing,  making  every  sound  but  the 
right  one  ;  McKnight,  the  Market  street  merchant  ;  McClellan, 
oftentimes  the  liner  and  singer.  The  Blairs,  and  their  relative,  Gen. 
Patchell ;  Judges  Riddle,  McCandless,  Darrah,  Porter,  and  Snow- 
den  ;  Hays  ;  Judge  Addison,  from  whose  legal  decision  an  appeal 
was  never  taken.  But  this  church  is  more  indebted  to  him  for  his 
three  daughters,  Mrs.  Mowry,  Ann  Addison,  and  Jane  Dar- 
lington ;  and  the  church  of  Lawrenceville  was  perhaps  more 
indebted  to  them  for  their  labors.  Lawyer  Ross,  Dalzells,  Benja- 
min Darlington,  who  escorted  Jackson,  Adams,  and  all  other 
distinguished  guests  who  lodged  with  him,  to  hear  the  Doctor 
preach.  The  dignified  Harmar  Denny,  who  twice  represented  us 
in  Congress,  and  in  company  with  AValter  Lowry  and  Theodore 
Frelinghuysen,  founded  the  Congressional  Prayer  Meeting,  which 
existed  until  the  various  churches  attracted  the  devout  Congress- 
men within  their  pale.  He  was  one  of  the  finest  looking  men  on 
horseback,  charitable  to  the  poor,  and  possessed  a  wife  every 
way  qualified  to  adorn  him.  Thomas  Fairman,  brave,  sincere, 
rash.  When  Dr.  Herron  was  won  by  the  young  folk  to  sanction 
the  formation  of  a  choir,  Fairman  yielded  :  but  "they  should 
never  play  an  instrument — no,  never  !"  His  nephew  took  up  a 
bass  viol,  and  only  playing  when  the  choir  sang,.  Fairman  for 
several  Sabbaths  was  none  the  wiser,  but  alas  !  for  a  voluntary. 


CHARACTERISTICS    AND    INCIDENTS. 


197 


Blair  began  to  tune.  Fairman  jumped  from  his  seat  into  the 
aisle.  "  Where  are  you  going?"  exclaimed  a  peace  maker.  "To 
the  gallery,  to  smash  that  fiddle!"  "Sit  down,  Tom— it's  been 
playing  there  a  month,  and  never  hurt  us."  He  sat  down  to 
consider  the  question,  and  never  formally  reported. 

Dr.  McMillan  once  asked  a  Seceder  pastor,  "What  would  you 
do  if  your  Session  would  appoint  one  of  their  own  number  to 
play  the  viol  in  church?"  "The  moment  he  touched  the 
string,  I  would  leave  !"  "Just  like  Saul's  devil,"  bluntly  replied 
the  Doctor  ;  "he  never  could  stand  David's  harp." 

I  am  not  infallible,  but  I  do  not  believe  that  Dr.  McMillan,  Dr. 
Herron«Mr.  Allen,  and  Samuel  Bailey,  singly  or  in  chorus,  could 
sing  any  tune  through  correctly,  with  or  without  notes.  Lewis 
used  to  say  that  the  only  difference  he  knew  in  tunes,  was  fast  or 
slow,  soft  or  loud.  I  really  cannot  speak  for  brother  Paxton,  but 
Dr.  Steele  and  brother  Scovel  belonged  to  the  musical  fraternity. 
Oh,  how  grandly  five  of  them  are  singing  now  ! 

Time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  faithful  John  Wright,  Robt- 
Campbell,  Treasurer,  the  Misses  Manns,  without  whom  a  prayer 
meeting  would  seem  incomplete.  A  noble  band  of  younger  men, 
like  pillars  round  a  palace  set,  and  daughters  like  polished  stones, 
of  Mrs.  Irish,  Mrs.  Blair,  and  almost  sainted  Mrs.  McWilliams, 
purified  by  suffering  ;  of  McCord,  Beer,  the  Laughlins ;  but  I  must 
stop  with  the  tall,  slender,  gentlemanly,  fearless,  crusty,  keen  editor 
of  the  " Gazette"  Neville  B.  Craig.  In  truth,  the  congregation  was 
a  grand  one;  from  it  sprung  directly  the  Second  and  Third 
Churches,  with  East  Liberty  and  the  Sixth  Churches.  What 
church  in  the  cities  has  not  a  representative  from  this?  Of  yore, 
a  church  could  hardly  be  erected  within  one  hundred  miles,  with- 
out the  nails,  the  glass,  the  cash  of  its  firms  and  members. 

It  is  safe  to  say,  that  for  the  first  twenty  years  of  its  life  the 
Western  Theological  Seminary  would  have  gone  down  without 
the  aid  of  Dr.  Herron  and  his  church.  His  modes  of  collection 
were  peculiar.  He  would  set  clown  sums  opposite  to  names, 
call  upon  those  whom  he  supposed  might  refuse  another,  obtain 
their  offerings  and  start  them  after  the  remainder.  Once  he 
sent  for  a  number  of  his  rich  members  to  meet  Dr.  John  Breck- 
enridge.  This  wonderful  man  explained  to  them  his  "education 
scheme,"  and  asked  them  if  they  could  not  begin  the  subscription 
with  $10,000  ?     They  were  silent.     Allen's  eyes  closed  devoutly. 


198  CHARACTERISTICS    AND    INCIDENTS. 

Breckenridge  said  to  him,  with  great  fervor,  "My  dear  sir,  set 
them  the  example!  You  can  spare  $1,000  and  have  enough  left 
to  damn  every  child  you  have  got."  Dr.  Herron  bit  his  lips. 
Allen  had  but  one  child.  The  situation  was  becoming  comical. 
Quickly,  however,  the  Doctor  remarked,  "Yes,  Michael,  begin!" 
That  voice  was  potent  and  the  point  gained. 

The  Doctor  called  the  prayer  meeting  the  thermometer  of  the 
church.  He  enlisted  at  different  times  Job  Halsey,  Dr.  Camp- 
bell, Watson  Hughes,  the  students  of  the  Seminary,  his  own 
laymen,  while  his  daughter  Mary  and  Mrs.  Wilkins  were  always 
present  and  could  sing.  At  Presbyteries  and  Synods,  which  then 
generally  met  in  the  First  Church,  he  could  induce  them  to  ad- 
journ on  Wednesday  evenings  and  feast  his  people.  All  through 
the  year  he  lodged  traveling  ministers,  and  compelled  them,  if 
necessary,  to  speak.  The  lecture  room  was  the  birthplace  of 
many  souls.  There  was  a  little  room  back  of  the  church.  Here 
the  Session  met  on  Sabbath  mornings  for  prayer ;  here  they  ex- 
amined applicants  for  membership;  here,  I  think,  the  Third 
Church  began,  with  Bushnell,  and  Gray,  and  Dawson,  and 
Edwards,  and  Breed,  and  Higby,  and  others  ;  here  began  the 
Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  with  dear  old  Father 
Andrews  as  Secretary ;  here  Dr.  Swift  taught  the  first  class  of 
the  Western  Theological  Seminary,  amidst  the  library,  while 
the  seminary  building  was  in  erection ;  here  the  ladies'  circles 
met  and  Sabbath  School  teachers  planned ;  it  was  the  holy  of 
holies  in  this  sanctuary.  When  age  enfeebled  him,  and  another 
pastor  was  called,  he  adopted  brother  Paxton  as  a  son — rejoicing 
in  his  success. 

The  First  Church  has  had  within  one  hundred  years  four 
pastors — a  grand  quartette.  The  church  has  been  strong,  harmo- 
nious, active,  useful,  blessed  in  every  way,  and  worthy  of  its 
pastors.  One  hundred  years  old  and  in  the  prime  of  life,  re- 
joicing in  a  numerous  progeny.  Churches  cluster  around  it  lov- 
ingly. Thousands  pray  for  its  welfare.  Its  sainted  dead  almost 
innumerable.  The  French  and  Indians  have  gone.  The  power 
of  England  passed  away.  Yet  with  undiminished  energy  the 
grand  old  organization  says,  "Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to 
do?"  Dr.  Paxton  ably  succeeded  Dr.  Herron,  and  lovingly  laid 
him  to  rest.  The  church  grew  in  power  under  Dr.  Scovel.  Both 
of  these  beloved  brethren  will  pray  for  the  success  of  the  fifth  pastor 


CHARACTERISTIC'S    AND    INCIDENTS.  199 

in  the  field  which  they  know  and  love  so  well.  Dr.  Paxton  appro- 
priated to  himself,  fairly,  one  of  the  church's  brightest  gems. 
Dr.  Scovel  was  adorned  by  one  every  way  worthy  of  him.  Dear, 
stately  Mrs.  Herron  yet  lives  in  the  memory  of  many.  Mrs. 
Steele  I  never  saw.  Rev.  Aaron  Williams  married  Jane  Herron, 
Rev.  Smith  married  Mary  Herron,  both  daughters  of  the  Doctor. 
Rev.  Thos.  Beer  married  Margaret  Cameron  and  celebrated  with 
her  his  golden  wedding.  Rev.  R.  Lea  married  Mary  Cameron. 
Isabella  Craig,  Eleanor  and  Sarah  Hannen,  Mrs.  Hannah  Barnet 
and  Cornelia  Brackenridge  married  clergymen.  All  these  taught 
in  your  Sabbath  School.  Rev.  David  Waggoner  and  Dr.  Win. 
Marshall  worked  well ;  also,  Revs.  McCandlish  and  Pollock. 
Dr.  Wm,  Speer  remained  with  you  until  licensed,  and  last  Sabbath 
told  your  Sabbath  Schools  how  God  had  blessed  them  in  olden 
times.  Many  students  prayed  and  sang  with  you,  as  Ralston, 
Coe,  Orr,  the  latter  marrying  Miss  Craig,*  and  leaving  his  brother 
in  your  choir. 

What  changes  you  have  seen.  Your  chapel  is  worth  more 
than  the  log  and  brick  churches  combined.  The  front  of  your 
church  patterns  after  York  Minster.  The  pitch  pipe  of  Evans 
has  given  place  to  a  grand  organ.  Instead  of  O'Hara's  chan- 
delier, beautiful  by  the  way,  numerous  gas  lights  blaze  through 
every  part  of  the  buildings.  The  old  tin  plate  stoves  displaced 
by  modern  furnaces,  destroying  Archie's  trade  in  hot  bricks. 
The  assemblage  now  here  cries  :  Grand  old  century,  Farewell :  and 
hails  the  commencement  of  another  century  with  joy,  and  gratitude, 
and  faith,  for  God  governs,  and  never  makes  mistakes.  His,  the 
past,  present  and  future. 


200  SOME    EMINENT    ELDERS    OF    THE    FIRST    CHURCH. 


SOME  EMINENT  ELDERS  OF  THE  FIRST  CHURCH. 


[The  Rev.  Dr.  James  Allison,  a  member  of  the  First  Church  during 
his  course  of  study  at  the  Theological  Seminary,  and  who  has  good 
reason  for  continuing  his  interest  perpetually,  in  view  of  the  excellent 
life  companion  he  found  there,  (a  daughter  of  that  most  useful  elder  and 
admirable  citizen,  Judge  Snowden,)  and  who  worshiped  with  the  church 
during  some  years  after  he  became  editor  of  the  Presbyterian  Banner, 
appeared  with  the  greatest  propriety  in  the  pulpit  lie  had  so  well  known 
during  the  last  two  pastorates  and  a  portion  of  Dr.  Herron's,  and  which  he 
had  been  always  so  ready *to  assist  in  every  good  work,  to  aid  the  occasion 
with  the  admirable  paper  which  follows:] 

The  duty  of  preparing  brief  sketches  of  the  lives  and  char- 
acters and  labors  of  three  elders  of  this  church,  has  been  assigned 
to  me.  Each  one  of  them  had  a  marked  individuality.  Each 
one  of  them  occupied  a  sphere  in  life  different  from  the  ones 
occupied  by  the  other  two  ;  but  they  were  alike  in  the  estima- 
tion in  which  they  were  held  by  the  people,  in  their  attachment  to 
this  church  and  in  their  love  to  the  King  and  Head  of  the  Church 
Universal :  and  their  memories  are  precious  heritages,  not  only 
to  this  church,  but  also  to  this  community,  and  should  be 
carefully  preserved  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  to  succeed 
the  present  generation. 

JOHN   MORGRIDGE    SNOWDEN. 

The  oldest  of  them  in  age  and  the  first  one  of  them  connected 
with  this  church,  was  the  Hon.  John  Morgridge  Snowden. 
Shortly  after  the  first  settlement  of  Virginia,  a  large  family  by 
the  name  of  Snowden  came  to  that  colony.  The  Snowdens  of 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania  are  descended  from  the  Snowdens 
who  came  from  Virginia  about  the  year  1663.  William  Snowden, 
who  was  the  great  ancestor  of  John  M.  Snowden,  owned  land  in 
what  is  now  Philadelphia,  in  1669,  thirteen  years  before  the 
arrival  of  William  Penn.  His  son,  John  Snowden,  was  born 
there  in  1685,  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the   First  Pres- 


SOME    EMINENT    ELDERS    OP    THE    FIRST    CHURCH.  201 

byterian  Church  of  that  city.  Isaac  Snowden,  a  sou  of  John, 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church 
of  the  same  city. 

John  Morgridge  Snowden,  better  known  as  John  M.  Snow- 
den, was  born  in  Philadelphia,  in  1776.  His  father  was  a  sea 
captain,  and  entered  the  service  of  the  Continental  Congress 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  was  captured  by  the 
British,  and  died  in  one  of  the  "prison  ships."  His  mother 
was  a  woman  of  wonderful  energy,  of  a  high  order  of  intelli- 
gence, great  force  of  character,  and  most  ardently  devoted  to 
the  cause  of  American  Independence.  Not  only  did  she 
assume  the  support  of  her  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  dis- 
daining to  receive  assistance  from  her  Tory  relations  on  the 
side  of  her  parents,  but  she  performed  a  difficult  and  dangerous 
part  that  her  country,  for  which  her  husband  had  died,  might 
be  free.  She  was  the  trusted  friend  of  General  Washington, 
and  from  her  he  received,  by  means  of  trusted  messengers,  his 
knowledge  from  time  to  time,  of  the  numbers  and  operations 
of  the  British  while  they  held  Philadelphia, 

In  early  life,  John  M.  Snowden  was  apprenticed  to  the  cele- 
brated Matthew  Carey,  to  learn  the  "art  and  mystery  of  print- 
ing." And  the  influence  of  Mr.  Carey  was  felt  by  his  apprentice 
during  his  entire  after-life.  Mr.  Snowden's  first  venture  on 
his  own  account,  was  in  the  establishment  of  a  newsjmper  in 
connection  with  his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  McCorkle,  at  Chambers- 
burg,  in  this  State.  But  in  1798  they  removed  to  Greensburg, 
Westmoreland  county,  where  they  published  "The  Fanner* 
Register,"  the  first  newspaper  in  the  west  after  the  Pittsburgh 
Gazette.  It  acquired  a  large  circulation  and  wielded  great 
political  influence.  Here  he  united  with  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  of  which  Rev.  William  Speer,  father  of  the  venerable 
and  beloved  Dr.  James  R.  Speer,  of  this  city,  was  then  pastor. 
While  in  Greensburg,  he  married  Elizabeth  Moor,  daughter  of 
the  Hon.  John  Moor,  the  first  President  Judge  of  Western  Penn- 
sylvania, and  who  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  the  organization 
and  defense  of  Pennsylvania  at  the  time  of  separation  from 
Great  Britain.  She  was  in  every  way  fitted  to  be  the  wife  of 
such  a  man.     Her  death  took  place  December  2,  1860. 

In  1811,  Mr.  Snowden  removed  to  Pittsburgh,  purchased  the 
Commonwealth  newspaper,  from  Ephraim  Pentland,  and  changed 
14 


202  SOME    EMINENT    ELDERS    OF    THE    FIRST    CHURCH. 

the  name  to  the  Mercury,  the  office  of  which  was  at  first  on 
Market  street,  between  Third  and  Fourth  streets,  and  afterwards 
on  Liberty  street,  near  the  head  of  Wood.  He  continued  to  be 
editor  of  this  paper,  which  was  widely  circulated  and  exerted 
great  power  upon  the  public  mind,  until  1831.  In  the  meantime 
he  published  a  number  of  valuable  works,  and  had  a  large  book 
store.  By  means  of  the  press,  his  sale  of  books,  his  social  rela- 
tions, his  undoubted  integrity,  his  interest  in  public  affairs  and 
his  activity  in  every  good  work,  he  was  widely  known  and  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania. 
He  was  of  medium  stature,  lithe  physical  structure,  quick  in  per- 
ception and  decided  in  action. 

Coming  to  Pittsburgh  about  the  time  that  Dr.  Herron  took 
charge  of  this  church,  he  united  with  it  and  afterwards  was 
elected  one  of  its  elders  (in  1812.)  He  was  strongly  attached  to 
his  pastor,  and  his  pastor  set  a  high  estimate  upon  his  soundness 
of  judgment  and  devout  piety.  The  early  history  of  this  church 
was  written  by  Mr.  Snowden,  and  is  still  in  existence.  When 
Pittsburgh  obtained  a  City  Charter  he  was  elected  an  Alderman. 
He  was  a  Director  of  the  Bank  of  Pittsburgh,  Recorder  of  Deeds 
under  the  administration  of  Gov.  Wolf,  Mayor  of  this  city  in 
1825,  '26  and  '27,  and  Clerk  of  the  Orphans'  Court. 

His  close  habits  of  study,  his  long  and  varied  experience,  his 
broad  common  sense,  and  his  judicial  mind,  fitted  him,  in  a  re- 
markable degree,  for  the  important  duties  devolving  upon  him 
when  he  became  Associate  Judge  with  the  Hon.  Benjamin  Patton. 
He  was  appointed  April  16th,  1840,  re-commissioned  March  31st, 
1841,  and  held  the  office  at  the  time  of  his  death.  While  on  the 
bench  he  received  high  commendations  from  the  public  and  from 
the  Bar.  On  more  than  one  occasion  he  differed  with  the  Presi- 
dent Judge  as  to  the  law,  and  so  expressed  himself  to  the  jury, 
as  he  had  a  right  to  do.  Several  times  he  exhibited  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  principles  of  common  law,  also  of  statutory  law, 
which  surprised  old  and  learned  attorneys.  When  one  of:  the 
most  intricate  and  important  cases  ever  tried  in  this  county  was 
pending,  the  attorneys  on  both  sides  agreed,  if  the  President 
Judge  would  retire,  to  go  on  with  the  trial  before  Associate  Judge 
Snowden.  The  President  Judge  left  the  bench,  and  Judge  Snow- 
den  tried  the  case  in  a  way  that  elicited  the  highest  admiration 
and  the  profoundest  respect. 


SOME    EMINENT    ELDERS    OF    THE    FIRST    CHURCH.  203 


Mr.  Snowden  stood  high  in  favor  with  General  Jackson.  He 
had  recommended  a  gentleman  to  President  Jackson  for  an  im- 
portant office.  Shortly  afterwards  a  friend  of  another  applicant 
for  the  same  office  appeared  before  the  President  and  denounced 
the  man  recommended  by  Mr.  Snowden,  as  being  utterly  unfit 
for  the  place.  Old  Hickory,  with  eyes  flashing  fire,  roared  out : 
"  How  dare  you  say  that  ?  Do  you  think  John  M.  Snowden 
would  recommend  a  man  unfit  for  the  position?  No,  never, 
by  the  eternal ! "  Mr.  Snowden's  man  got  the  office. 

On  the  2d  of  April,  1845,  Mr.  Snowden  died  suddenly  of  dis- 
ease of  the  heart.  Years  before  he  had  been  told  by  his  physi- 
cians that  his  death  would  be  sudden  and  that  it  might  occur 
at  any  time.  When  the  summons  came  he  was  ready  to  obey. 
The  Pittsburgh  Post,  of  April  3d,  1845,  said:  "There  can  be  no 
more  evidence  of  the  high  estimation  in  which  Judge  Snowden 
was  held,  than  the  deep  and  general  concern  which  is  manifested 
at  his  death  by  all  manner  of  persons.  Every  one  seemed  to  feel 
that  his  departure  had  left  a  void  that  cannot  be  filled.  To  his 
family  and  friends,  it  is  useless  to  say  the  loss  is  irreparable." 

"Mr.  Snowden — a  man  of  strong  mind  and  judgment  in  all  things, 
worldly  and  spiritual,  was  considered  a  great  acquisition  to  the  eldership. 
I  have  often  heard  my  father  speak  of  the  efficiency  of  Mr.  Snowden 
and  Mr.  Denny,  in  church  courts  especially."     (Mrs.  Smith,  April,  1883.) 

HARMAR   DENNY. 

In  1745  two  brothers,  William  and  Walter  Denny,  of  English 
parentage,  came  from  Chester  county,  Pa.,  and  located  west  of 
the  Susquehanna,  in  what  is  now  Cumberland  county,  Pa.,  near 
Carlisle.  Subsequently  William  Denny  married  Agnes  Parker, 
became  a  prominent  citizen,  and  was  the  first  Coroner  appointed 
west  of  Carlisle.  Their  first  child,  Ebenezer  Denny,  was  born 
March  11th,  1761.  When  only  fifteen  years  old  he  was  the 
trusted  bearer  of  important  dispatches  to  Fort  Pitt  and  other 
places.  For  a  time  he  commanded  the  quarter  deck  of  a  vessel 
bearing  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  and  bound  for  the  West 
Indies.  Subsequently  he  accepted  a  commission  as  ensign  of  the 
First  Pennsylvania  Regiment.  He  was  present  at  the  surrender 
of  Lord  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown,  and  was  detailed  to  plant  the 
first  American  flag  on  the  British  parapet.  Then  he  served  in 
the  Carolinas  and  at  a  later  period  he  was  Adjutant  to  General 


204  SOME    EMINENT    ELDERS    OF   THE    FIRST    CHURCH. 


Harmar  and  Aid-de-Camp  to  General  St.  Clair.  He  was  also 
one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati, 
founded  in  1783.  After  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War  he 
came  to  Pittsburgh  and  was  largely  and  successfully  engaged  in 
business.  In  1794  he  was  appointed  commander  of  the  expedi- 
tion to  LeBoeuf,  ostensibly  to  protect  the  Commissioners  engaged 
in  laying  out  the  town  of  Presque  Isle,  now  the  city  of  Erie,  but 
really  to  prevent  the  Six  Nations  from  uniting  with  the  Miami 
Indians  against  General  Wayne.  During  the  Avar  of  1812  he  faith- 
fully met  the  extraordinary  demands  upon  him  to  furnish  sup- 
plies for  the  troops  at  Erie  and  elsewhere.  He  was  a  Commissioner 
of  Allegheny  county;  its  first  Treasurer,  in  1803,  and  again  in 
1808;  and  when  Pittsburgh  became  a  city,  in  1816,  he  was  its 
first  Mayor. 

July  1st,  1793,  this  Major  Ebenezer  Denny  married  Nancy 
Wilkins,  daughter  of  Captain  John  Wilkins,  Sr.,  and  sister  of 
Quartermaster  General  John  Wilkins,  Jr.,  and  of  the  late  Hon. 
Win.  Wilkins,  who,  in  his  lifetime,  was  a  Judge,  United  States 
Senator,  Minister  to  Russia  and  Secretary  of  War.  His  first 
child,  Harmar  Denny,  was  born  in  Pittsburgh,  May  13th,  1794. 
He'  was  named  for  the  bosom  friend  and  chivalric  officer  to 
whose  staff  the  father  had  belonged.  Harmar  Denny  pursued 
his  preparatory  studies  in  his  native  place,  and  graduated  from 
Dickinson  College,  at  Carlisle,  in  1813.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
Bar  of  this  county  November  13th,  1816,  and  was  afterwards 
taken  into  partnership  by  his  legal  preceptor,  Henry  Baldwin, 
who  at  length  became  one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Harmar  Denny  soon  became  a  public  man  widely  and 
favorably  known,  and  through  his  entire  life  he  seemed  to  be 
more  devoted  to  the  general  welfare  of  the  people  than  to  his 
personal  comfort  or  private  emolument.  He  faithfully  repre- 
sented his  county  in  the  State  Legislature  when  the  Pennsylvania 
Canal  was  a  question  of  absorbing  interest.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  National  Congress  for  four  successive  terms,  from  1829 
to  1837,  and  throughout  his  eight  years  of  service  in  that  body 
he  was  the  advocate  of  a  protective  tariff,  as  was  evinced  by 
his  able  speech  of  May,  1830,  in  reply  to  Mr.  McDuffie,  of 
South  Carolina,  and  by  his  no  less  able  speeches  of  June,  1832, 
and  of  February,  1833.      He   was  a    member  of   the  Reform 


SOME    EMINENT    ELDERS    OF   THE    FIRST    CHURCH.  205 


Convention  of  1837   and    '38,  which  met    in    Harfisburg    and 
Philadelphia,     that     prepared     a    new    Constitution    for    this 
State.       In    that    Convention    he  was    a  man  of   note,    as    is 
evident  from   his   speeches   and    votes.      In    the    Councils    of 
this    city     and    in    other    offices    of    trust,   he  was    prominent 
and  influential.    He  encouraged  the  construction  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad,  and  was  the  honored  and  efficient  President  of 
the  Pittsburgh  and  Steubenville  Railroad,  upon  whose  bonds  was 
the  likeness  of  his  own  countenance.     In  every  way  he  was  the 
friend  of  Western  Pennsylvania.     The  farmers  derived  no  small 
benefits  from  the  improved  agricultural  implements  he  introduced 
and  from  the  blooded  stock   imported  by  him.      He  was  fully 
identified  with  the  cause  of  liberal  education,  was  a  Trustee  of  the 
Western  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  a  Director  of  the  West- 
ern Theological   Seminary.     His  library  was  large,  well  selected, 
and   valuable;  and    in   1848  he  was  elected  a    member  of  the 
American  Philosophical  Society,  organized  in  Philadelphia  in  1743. 
About    the    time  Mr.   Denny  was  admitted    to   the  Bar,  he 
made  a  confession  of  faith  and  was  received  into  membership 
by    the   First  Presbyterian  Church  of  this  city,   to  which  Dr. 
Francis  Herron  then    ministered   so   successfully.       When  the 
Young  Men's  Western  Auxiliary  Bible  Society  was  organized  in 
1817,  the  year  after  the  American  Bible  Society  had  been  founded 
in  New  York,  Mr.  Denny  was  chosen  its  President,  and  at  the 
first  anniversary,  November  3d,  1818,  he  delivered   an  address 
which  was  greatly  admired  by  those  who  heard  it,  and  was  after- 
wards published  in  pamphlet  form,  a  copy  of  which  is  now  in  pos- 
session of  Rev.  Joseph  A.  Murray,  D.  I).,  of  Carlisle.  Immediately 
after  the  delivery  of  this  address,  the  venerable  Rev.  Joseph  Pat- 
terson went  to  Mr.  Denny's  young  wife  and  said :    "You  may  be 
justly  proud  of  having  such  a  man  for  your  husband."      April 
12th,  1829,  he  was  ordained  a  ruling  elder  in  this  church,  and 
most  faithfully  and  acceptably  did  he  discharge  the  duties  of 
this  high  office,  by  the  example   of  his  own   unblemished  char- 
acter  and   his    active    interest    in    all    that    pertained    to    the 
welfare    of  the  church.     As   a  member  of  the    Session  of  this 
church,  and  of  the   higher  ecclesiastical  courts,  he  was  modest 
nnd  prudent,  and  his  advice   or   opinion    always   carried   great 
weight.    When  a  member  of  Congress,  he,  with  the  Hon.  Walter 
Lowrie  and  Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  formed  the  old  Con- 


gressional  prayer  meeting.  He  had  been  long  and  actively  con- 
nected with  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  founded 
and  controlled  by  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh.  And  when,  in  1837, 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  organized  its 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  he  was  made  one  of  its  first  members. 
At  the  Baltimore  Convention  on  the  Observance  of  the  Sabbath, 
November  27th,  1844,  there  were  seventeen  hundred  delegates. 
John  Quincy  Adams  presided  and  Mr.  Denny  was  one  of  the 
three  Secretaries. 

On  the  25th  of  November,  1817,  Mr.  Denny  was  married  to 
Elizabeth  Febiger  O'Hara,  daughter  of  General  James  and  Mary 
Carson  O'Hara.  General  O'Hara  was  a  man  of  large  enterprise  and 
great  foresight.  He  had  been  a  Commissary  and  Quarter- 
master General  of  the  United  States  Army  during  the  Indian 
hostilities  subsequent  to  the  Revolutionary  War ;  had  been  ex- 
tensively engaged  in  business  operations  of  his  own :  and  had,  in 
partnership  with  Major  Isaac  Craig,  established  the  first  glass 
works  in  Pittsburgh.  Mrs.  Denny  was  the  elder  daughter,  and 
survived  every  other  member  of  her  father's  family.  She  was 
a  noble  woman,  an  earnest  and  intelligent  Christian,  of  great 
energy  of  character  and  of  large  hearted  benevolence.  After 
the  death  of  her  husband  she  lived  nearly  twenty-six  years, 
dying  January  18th,  1878,  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  her  age. 

Mr.  Denny  was  tall,  erect  and  dignified  in  appearance,  but 
modest,  courteous  and  kind.  His  character  was  symmetrical 
and  well  established.  No  one  ever  questioned  his  high  sense 
of  honor,  his  integrity,  the  purity  of  his  life  or  the  sincerity 
of  his  religious  profession.  His  home  was  loved  by  himself 
and  in  it  he  practised  a  generous  hospitality.  Morning  and 
evening  he  worshiped  God  with  his  household.  His  life  was 
not  a  long  one,  but  an  active  and  useful  one.  After  a  linger- 
ing and  painful  illness,  which  he  was  enabled  to  endure  with 
cheerful  resignation,  supported  by  the  precious  hopes  of  the 
Christian  faith  and  soothed  by  the  loving  attentions  of  those 
near  and  dear  to  him,  he  peacefully  entered  into  rest  through 
death,  January  29th,  1852,  in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of  his  age. 
The  Bar  of  Allegheny  county,  at  a  meeting  presided  over  by  the 
late  Hon.  Walter  Forward,  paid  a  high  tribute  to  his  worth  and 
gave  expression  to  the  high  estimation  in  which  he  was  held. 
The  corporations  to  which  he  had  belonged,  and  the  press  of  the 


country,  recognized  his  distinguished  character  and  spoke  of  the 
deep  sorrow  so  widely  felt  because  of  his  departure.  "The  mem- 
ory of  the  just  is  blessed." 

FRANCIS   BAILEY. 

Francis  Gelson  Bailey  was  born  at  Bally  Water,  County  Down, 
Ireland,  on  the  24th  of  February,  1797.  When  about  eighteen 
years  old  he  came  to  this  city  and  engaged  in  mercantile  busi- 
ness. His  pecuniary  means  Avere  not  large,  but  the  habits  of 
industry  acquired  in  the  home  he  had  left — where  thrift  was 
looked  upon  as  almost  necessary  to  respectability — and  his 
energy  of  character,  soon  won  him  a  place  in  the  foremost  rank  of 
the  business  men  of  this  region.  His  success  here  soon  led  his 
father  and  mother  and  the  other  members  of  his  family,  to  come 
hither  also  and  make  this  city  their  home. 

In  connection  with  his  younger  brother,  Samuel,  and  his 
brother-in-law,  Alexander  Laughlin,  he  continued  in  the  success- 
ful prosecution  of  various  business  enterprises  until  1850,  when, 
having  accumulated  a  generous  competency,  he  retired  in  a  great 
measure  from  active  worldly  pursuits,  not  to  spend  the  remainder 
of  his  days  in  idleness,  but  to  devote  them  more  fully  to  the 
good  of  his  fellow  men  and  the  glory  of  God.  The  energy  and 
industry  of  his  business  life  was  carried  into  the  service  of  the 
church. 

A  child  of  the  covenant  and  trained  by  a  godly  father,  whom 
he  greatly  resembled,  Mr.  Bailey  had  connected  himself  with  the 
church  at  an  early  age.  In  1819  he  became  a  member  of  the 
First  Associate  Reformed  Church  of  this  city,  of  which  the  late 
Rev.  Joseph  McElroy,  D.D.  was  then  pastor.  In  1824  he  united 
with  this  church  because  of  the  kindness  with  which  he  had 
been  treated  by  its  pastor,  Rev.  Dr.  Herron,  and  also  because 
his  spiritual  life  had  been  greatly  quickened,  if  not  really 
begun,  under  his  ministrations.  The  intimacy  between  these  two 
devout  men  ripened  with  their  advancing  years  and  has  linked 
their  names  together. 

In  1827,  with  a  heart  warmed  by  a  great  revival  with  which 
this  church  had  been  visited,  Mr.  Bailey  removed  to  East  Liberty. 
At  that  time  there  was  in  that  place  a  church  building  partly 
erected,  on  which  work  had  stopped — a  growing  population 
and   abounding   wickedness.     His  soul  was   stirred  within  him 


and  he  determined  to  have  the  house  of  worship  completed  and 
a  church  organized.  To  accomplish  these  things  involved  no 
small  difficulty  and  self  denial.  On  presenting  the  petition 
requesting  an  organization  to  Presbytery,  he  was  met  with  the 
chilling  statement :  "  There  is  nobody  in  East  Liberty  to  make 
a  church  ;  there  are  no  Presbyterians  there  with  whom  to  form 
an  organization."  Mr.  Bailey,  with  great  modesty,  but  with 
characteristic  ardor,  replied:  "There  are  plenty  of  people  there, 
and  we  expect  to  have  them  converted,  and  then  they  will  make 
a  church."  The  church  was  organized;  Mr.  Bailey  Avas  elected 
an  elder.  The  first  pastor,  Rev.  W.  B.  Mcllvaine,  now  of  Mon- 
mouth, Illinois,  for  a  time  made  his  home  in  the  family  of  Mr. 
Bailey.  The  Holy  Spirit  was  poured  out  and  many  were  con- 
verted. The  large  and  prosperous  churches  now  in  what  was 
then  East  Liberty,  show  the  plentiful  harvest  yielded  by  the  seed 
sown  then  by  Mr.  Bailey. 

In  1841  he  returned  to  the  city,  and  was  immediately  elected 
to  the  eldership  in  this  church,  always  so  dear  to  him.  In  1842 
he  became  a  Director  of  the  Western  Theological  Seminary,  and 
he  was  President  of  its  Board  of  Trustees  from  its  organization  ; 
and  in  the  prosperity  of  that  institution  he  took  a  deep  interest. 

The  wife  of  Mr.  Bailey  was  Mary  Ann  Dalzell,  daughter  of 
John  Dalzell,  of  Oneida  county,  New  York,  who  was  the  last  of 
an  old  family  of  Scotch  Covenanters  that  had  established  itself  in 
County  Down,  near  Belfast.  His  sympathies  had  been  with  the 
Irish  rebellion  of  1798,  and  becoming  an  active  participant,  he 
was  compelled  to  emigrate  hastily  to  America,  leaving  all  his 
property  behind,  and  it  w7as  confiscated  by  the  government.  A 
brother  of  Mrs.  Bailey,  Robert  Dalzell,  resided  in  Rochester,  New 
York,  and  another,  James  Dalzell,  in  Columbus,  Ohio.  She  was 
born  in  1802,  and  died  January  18th,  1869.  In  person  she  was 
tall,  with  a  clear  complexion,  and  she  was  at  the  same  time 
possessed  of  a  most  happy  temperament,  To  her  no  self  denial 
was  wearisome,  if  it  would  add  to  the  comfort  of  her  children,  or 
others.  She  was  always  ready  to  encourage  her  husband  in  his 
work  of  Christian  love  and  to  rejoice  in  his  success. 

Before  concluding  this  sketch  of  Mr.  Bailey,  I  may  say  a  few 
words  of  his  contemporaries  in  the  Session,  whose  names  have 
not  been  mentioned.  Hugh  McClelland  was  never  so  happy  as 
when  listening  to  the  gospel  or  sitting  in  the  prayer  meeting  in 


SOME    EMINENT    ELDERS    OF    THE    FIRST    CHURCH.         209 

yonder  upper  room,  leading  the  singing.  So  closely  did  he 
watch  the  walls  of  this  building  as  they  went  up,  that  he  could 
almost  have  counted  the  stones  and  the  bricks.  Bluff,  honest 
and  hearty  Frederick  Lorenz,  was  a  man  whose  sincerity  no  one 
ever  doubted.  Alexander  Laughlin  was  a  successful  Sabbath 
School  worker,  of  most  upright  life,  loved  by  all  and  devoted  to 
the  welfare  of  this  church.  Samuel  Ray,  gentle  in  manner,  of 
few  words,  and  wise  in  counsel,  was  one  wdiose  memory  will  be 
long  cherished  by  those  who  knew  him.  Joseph  McKnight!  who 
of  the  older  members  of  this  church  does  not  recall  him?  Warm 
hearted,  impulsive,  generous,  ever  ready  to  weep  with  the  suffer- 
ing and  to  encourage  the  unfortunate.  John  D.  McCord,  though 
a  resident  of  Philadelphia,  is  here  to-day.  What  manner  of 
man  he  was  and  is,  yon  all  know.  May  it  be  a  long  time  before 
any  one  will  be  called  upon  to  write  his  obituary  or  pronounce 
his  eulogy.     Mr.  Poindexter  was  a  pattern  Christian  gentleman. 

But  Mr.  Bailey  had  a  closer  companionship  with  Captain 
Bobert  Beer  than  with  any  other  member  of  the  Session.  When 
one  left  the  city  the  other  went  with  him.  At  the  summer 
resorts,  wherever  one  was  seen  the  other  was  not  far  off.  Together 
they  went  up  and  down  these  streets  and  alleys,  to  the  houses  of 
the  rich  and  the  dwellings  of  the  poor,  to  the  fashionable  parlor 
and  to  the  bedside  of  the  sick  and  dying.  Of  the  salvation  in 
Christ  they  spake  to  the  giddy  girl  and  to  the  dependent  old 
woman,  to  the  millionaire  and  to  the  beggar,  to  the  aged  or  the 
little  child.  So  much  were  they  together  and  so  much  were  they 
alike  in  spirit,  that  Mr.  Bobert  Dalzell,  of  this  church,  named 
them  the  "Siamese  Twins." 

But  at  length  Mr.  Bailey's  work  was  done.  For  more  than  a 
year  and  a  half  he  glorified  God  in  the  fires,  but  his  faith  failed 
not.  The  last  request  which  those  around  him  were  able  to  in- 
terpret, was,  "pray."  A  few  hours  before  his  death,  a  friend, 
whose  other  inquiries  had  been  answered  by  a  slight  elevation 
of  the  hand,  asked:  "Is  Jesns  still  precious?"  With  sadden 
energy  his  hand  was  extended  the  entire  length  of  his  arm,  as  if 
he  was  about  to  take  a  solemn  oath  before  God.  That  was  a  fitting 
close  to  more  than  half  a  century  of  faithful  service  to  the  divine 
Master.  Mr.  Bailey  died  at  midnight,  Thursday,  August  4th, 
1870,  in  the  74th  year  of  his  age. 


210  SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT  CONCERNING  THE 
ELDERSHIP. 


[After  Dr.  Allison's  paper,  Mr.  Scovel  made  a  Supplementary  Statement 
with  regard  to  the  eldership,  which  (rewritten  and  enlarged,)  is  as  follows:] 

Some  paragraphs  at  least  must  be  allowed,  besides  what  have 
already  been  allotted,  and  so  well  employed,  on  that  succession 
of  noble  men  in  the  eldership  for  which  the  First  Church  has 
often  felt  and  expressed  its  gratitude.  Taken  as  a  whole,  even 
within  my  pastorate,  and  how  much  more  when  taken  through 
the  century,  the  eldership  has  been  remarkable  as  furnishing 
instances  of  all  the  finest  types  of  Christian  character.  My 
heart,  and  many  hearts,  would  overflow  in  testimonies  to  the 
gentle,  the  strong,  the  trustful,  the  aggressive  and  bold,  the  spirit- 
ual and  prayerful  men  we  have  known  in  this  relation.  Their 
faith  and  their  constancy  are  known  to  observation  and  tradition 
as  well  as  by  the  results  which  they  have  wrought.  And  it  is  to 
be  gratefully  remembered  that  they  have  all  been  of  the  people. 
They  have  been  selected  with  the  insight  of  spirituality  rather 
than  for  any  external  or  even  unusual  intellectual  qualifications. 
The  fact  that  new  elections  generally  succeeded  revivals,  is  sig- 
nificant. So  it  was  after  the  revival  of  1827-8,  when  Denny, 
and  Plumer,  and  Wilson  were  added,  and  after  1832,  when 
Edwards,  andHerron,and  Laughlin,  and  Davis  and  Hanson  were 
chosen  :  and  so  in  our  later  history.  During  seasons  of  interest 
the  people  were  more  ready  to  see  the  need  of  more  internal 
work,  and  had  better  opportunity  to  see  who  were  fitted  for  it. 
The  eldership  has  not  been  numerically  lai'ge.  We  have  had 
forty-nine  elders  in  a  century — while,  for  example,  our  sister 
First  Church,  in  Allegheny,  has  had  fifty-nine  elders  in  forty-six 


SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT.  211 


years.  It  is  an  evidence  that  the  church  does  not  meddle  with 
them  that  are  given  to  change,  and  is  not  likely  to  adopt  the 
rotary  system. 

From  181-9  the  Session's  office  seems  to  have  been  increas- 
ingly honored.  Up  to  that  date  Dr.  Herron  had  examined  ap- 
plicants for  admission  to  the  church  unaccompanied  by  the 
Session.  But  a  resolution  was  then  passed  that  "the  Session,  or 
a  committee  thereof,"  should  be  present  at  all  such  examina- 
tions, and  the  very  sensible  ground  is  assigned  in  the  records 
for  this  action,  that  it  was  "  desirable  for  the  Session  to  know 
the  congregation."  A  hint  for  to-day  and  all  days.  But  a  still 
broader  one  is  found  in  the  minutes  of  January,  1833.  At  that 
time  the  congregation  (numbering  four  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
communicants,)  was  districted,  and  arrangements  made  for  super- 
vision by  the  Session,  in  the  following  admirable  manner :  "At 
a  meeting  of  the  Session  in  January,  1833 — convened  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  into  effect  the  recommendation  of  ye  last 
Synod — and  for  promoting  the  interest  of  religion  in  this  branch 
of  the  church — we  have  agreed  to  adopt  the  following  plan  for  the 
above  purpose,  viz  :  The  city  to  be  divided  into  six  districts,  and 
the  families  in  those  districts  to  be  visited  by  such  members  of 
the  Session  as  are  willing  to  undertake  the  duty,  and  that  this 
duty  shall  be  attended  to  previously  to  our  next  communion,  and 
on  every  three  months  afterwards,  when  ye  members  of  Session 
shall  change  their  districts,  so  that  each  elder  may  have  an  op- 
portunity of  visiting  all  the  families  belonging  to  ye  congre- 
gation in  each  year.  The  above  plan  was  adopted  and  carried 
into  effect.  This  plan  was  well  accepted  by  the  congregation 
and  was  pleasant  to  the  elders  themselves."  The  elders  present 
when  that  record  was  made,  were  Snowden,  Denny,  Laughlin, 
Wilson,  Edwards,  Herron,  Wright,  Hanson. 

That  which  stands  written  of  the  Session  in  1839,  may 
now,  in  1884,  be  repeated  with  emphasis.  "The  eldership 
have  generally  endeavored  to  discharge  their  duty  in  the  fear 
of  God  and  with  an  eye  to  His  glory,  although  sensible  of  many 
imperfections.  The  harmony  and  good  feelings  that  exist  among 
them  and  the  respect  and  confidence  of  their  brethren  in  the 
church  which  they  have  the  happiness  to  enjoy,  are  by  them 
justly  and  highly  appreciated.  It  is  a  fact  highly  gratifying 
to  them  on  review,  that  there  never  has  been  an  appeal  from  any 


212  SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT. 


of  their  decisions ;  and  that  their  admonitions  have  always 
been  kindly  and  affectionately  received."     [Judge  Snowden.] 

I  think  the  three  pastors  of  this  century  whose  opinions  are 
accessible,  unite  in  saying  that  the  First  Church  has  been  blessed 
with  the  best  Session  that  ever  was.  They  have  been  kind  and 
firm.  They  have  always  moved  together  and  have  always  been 
prayerful  and  solicitous  for  the  good  of  the  people.  They  have 
been  faithful  in  the  Sabbath  School  and  full  of  sympathy  for 
the  suffering.     [Perhaps  they  might  have  visited  more.] 

To  the  elders  that  are  yet  living,  but  removed  from  us  to  other 
fields  of  usefulness,  either  in  this  city  or  elsewhere,  only  the 
general  tribute  can  be  paid,  that  without  the  least  exception 
their  connection  with  official  duty  in  this  church  was  productive 
of  good  and  their  conduct  an  ornament  to  their  profession  and 
office.  We  rejoice  in  the  remembrance  of  their  fellowship  and 
service,  as  well  as  in  their  continued  and  growing  usefulness 
in  other  parts  of  the  Master's  vineyard  ;  and  shall  keep  them 
enrolled  in  our  official  history  with  mingled  pride  and  thankful- 
ness. Such  special  mention  as  time  and  space  admit  and  infor- 
mation warrants,  may  now  be  given  concerning  others  than  those 
whose  biographies  have  just  been  read. 

The  early  non-attendance  of  our  eldership  at  Presbytery  was 
rather  marked.  When  Mr.  Barr  first  appeared  with  an  elder  in 
1787,  at  Laurel  Hill,  it  was  one  of  the  Pitts  Township  Session — 
Mr.  James  Milligan.  The  first  appearance  in  Presbytery,  really 
ascertained,  is  that  of  the  entire  Session  in  connection  with  the 
trial  at  the  termination  of  the  first  pastorate,  in  June,  1789.  In 
August  of  that  year,  Mr.  John  Wilkins  appears  as  the  first  regular 
representative  of  the  congregation.  George  Plumer  appears  in 
April,  1801,  and  Mr.  Wm.  Dunning  in  a  later  meeting  of  the 
same  year.  June  28th,  1803,  Mr.  James  B.  Clow  appears.  In 
October  of  that  year,  Mr.  Wilkins  is  registered  in  the  Synod  as 
representative,  and  the  entire  Session  appears  on  the  record  as 
protestants  against  the  organization  of  a  second  church  in  the 
city.  Then  the  body  consisted  of  Messrs.  Jeremiah  Sturgeon, 
James  B.  Clow,  John  Wilkins  and  Wm.  Dunning.  From  that 
time  onward  attendance  is  more  regular,  but  still  the  Session 
evinced  no  fondness  for  the  general  work  of  the  church  courts. 
The  besdnnina;  of  influence  in  that  direction  seems  to  have  been 


SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT.  213 


at  the  accession  of  Mr.  Snowden,  in  1812,  and  its  continuance  by 
that  of  Mr.  Denny,  in  1829. 

Of  Mr.  John  Wilhins  no  more  need  be  now  said  than  to  refer  to 
his  early  zeal  in  gathering  the  people  to  organize  and  build,  and  to 
note  that  the  period  of  his  official  service  was  one  of  the  longest 
the  church  has  ever  known.  He  does  not  seem  (according  to 
the  remembrance  of  Mrs.  Eichbaum,)  to  have  been  willing  to 
"  lead  in  prayer  and  to  serve  at  the  communion  table,  until 
very  late  in  life." 

Mr.  James  Beach  Clow  is  the  second  of  our  elders  to  appear 
in  a  marked  way  in  the  church  history.  For  a  long  time  he 
seems  to  have  been  the  only  elder  who  appeared  at  the  com- 
munion seasons  to  assist  Mr.  Steele  in  distributing  the  elements. 
He  was  chosen  an  elder  quite  early  in  life,  and  his  spirituality 
was  always  marked.  Dr.  Herron  called  him  his  "  praying- 
elder."  His  term  of  service  was  also  long,  though  interrupted 
by  removals.  He  was  famed  for  his  sweet  voice,  and  led  the 
devotions  of  the  congregation  for  years.  Many  times  have  the 
dear  old  lines,  "Come,  Holy  Spirit,  Heavenly  Dove/'  set  the 
tone  to  the  revival  meetings  as  he  set  the  tune  to  them.  Such 
prayers  to  the  Spirit  have  been  often  answered  within  these  walls. 
In  later  life  Mr.  Clow  wrote  out  his  consecration  to  God,  that  he 
might  be  the  better  able  to  live  the  life  of  the  Christian.  The 
precious  paper  is  still  in  the  hands  of  his  descendants,  some  of 
whom  are  still  with  us. 

Concerning  Mr.  James  Cooper,  little  information  seems  to 
be  accessible.  But  fortunately  the  following  reminiscence  has 
been  given  by  Mrs.  Smith,  [Miss  Mary  Herron.]  "I  only  remem- 
ber one  of  the  number  that  were  in  the  church  Session  when 
father  was  called,  and  that  for  the  reason  that  he  lived  close  by 
us;  and  his  daughter,  aunt  Peggy  Davis,  as  we  called  her,  with 
all  her  oddities  was  a  most  excellent  Christian  woman  and  the 
delight  of  us  young  folks.  Mr.  Cooper  was  not  a  strong  man, 
as  far  as  knowledge  of  this  world  was  concerned,  but  was  wise 
in  spiritual  things.  At  first  he  was  among  the  number  that  bit- 
terly opposed  prayer  meetings  and  Bible  classes  and  denounced 
father  as  a  Methodist.  But  when  I  remember  him  he  was  an 
advocate  for  all  that  was  good — an  humble  Christian  trying  to 
do  what  he  could  for  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  a  devoted  friend 
of  my  father."     [April,  1883.] 


214  SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT. 

Elder  John  Hannen  was  chosen  in  1818,  and  remained  in  the 
office  until  1828.  Thereafter  his  work  is  found  recorded  in  the 
history  of  the  First  Church  of  Allegheny,  of  which  he  was  one 
of  the  originators.  There  and  here  he  manifested  the  same  graces. 
For  his  remarkably  earnest  and  affectionate  character,  he  was 
called  "the  beloved  disciple."  Many  remember  his  old-fashioned 
ivory  headed  cane,  his  sedate  but  cheerful  demeanor,  and  his  in- 
timacy with  his  pastors,  Drs.  Herron  and  Swift,  his  consistency 
in  everything  and  his  fervent  efforts  to  bring  souls  to  Christ. 
One  writes  that  he  "was  an  excellent  member  of  the  First 
Church  (our  church,)  Session  in  things  spiritual ;  but  I  always 
dreaded  meeting  him,  as  he  would  speak  on  the  subject  of  religion, 
which  was  not  palatable  at  the  time."  [Mrs.  Mary  Smith,  1883.] 
Dr.  Elisha  Swift  said  of  him,  "  He  was  pre-eminent  among  the 
entire  eldership  of  these  cities,  for  the  depth  and  vigor  of  his 
piety  and  the  abundance  of  his  efforts  to  do  good.  The  linea- 
ments of  his  countenance  bore  the  impress  of  the  tranquility  of 
his  mind  and  the  kindness  of  his  heart." 

Mr.  William  Phimer,  chosen  in  1829,  removed  before  many 
years  to  New  Albany,  Indiana.  There  as  here,  he  was  known 
most  favorably  as  consistent,  intelligent,  and  devoted.  He  was 
specially  active  in  Sabbath  School  work,  and  it  is  a  singu- 
lar fact  that  a  large  part  of  the  Sabbath  School  training  of 
your  last  pastor  (and  the  entire  Sabbath  School  training  of  his 
wife,)  should  have  been  under  his  superintendency.  The  reflec- 
tion makes  me  all  the  more  certain  that  we  were  "  nourished 
up  in  sound  doctrine."  [Mr.  John  Bushnell,  who  united  with 
this  church  in  1828,  was  also  assistant  superintendent,  for  many 
years,  of  the  New  Albany  school,  and  a  fit  companion  and  friend 
for  Mr.  Plumer,  and  is  yet  honored  for  a  more  than  fifty  years 
eldership  in  the  First  Church  of  New  Albany.  It  is  a  joy  to 
have  the  privilege  of  recording  in  this  way  our  sense  of  obli- 
gation to  these  two  excellent  men,  whose  prayers  and  godly 
example  perpetuated  the  influence  of  this  First  Church  in  that 
one,  and  aided  to  prepare  those  who  have  been  last  your 
helpers  in  the  work  of  Christ.  Certain  Sabbath  School  boxes 
in  use  in  the  old  lecture  room  we  recognized  at  once  as  the 
familiar  appliances  of  the  Sabbath  School  of  our  childhood.] 

Mr.  James  Wilson  was  chosen  an  elder  in  1829.  The  following 
obituary  was  published  shortly  after  his  death  at  an  advanced  age : 


[From  Presbyterian  Banner  of  March,  1883.] 

In  Mkmoriam — James  Wilson  was  born  in  Mifflin  township,  Alle- 
gheny county,  Pa.,  April  loth,  1793,  and  died  January  31st,  1883,  at  his 
residence,  No.  38  Darragh  street,  Allegheny  City,  Pa. 

Nearly  ninety  years  old  !  How  long  it  seems  to  us !  How  short  it 
must  now  seem  to  him  !  He  had  thoroughly  learned  the  lesson  of  that 
great  life-Psalm  of  "Moses,  the  Man  of  God,"  and  had  lived  wisely  as 
well  as  long.  He  began  by  being  a  man  of  enterprise.  Among  the  earliest 
and  then  most  successful  of  all  our  merchants  was  he.  Yet  earthly  good 
never  made  him  less  than  a  man  of  principle.  When  it  was  not  at  all  a 
popular  thing  to  do,  he,  with  one  other,  founded  about  1815  the  first  Sab- 
bath School  for  colored  children  in  this  city.  Later,  his  leaving  the 
church  of  his  early  choice  to  help  establish  another  (New  School),  was 
equally  due  to  what  he  held  as  conscientious  conviction,  and  his  honesty 
was  never  questioned.  He  was  nevertheless  a  man  of  peace.  He  knew 
how  to  hold  convictions  and  obey  them  without  disparaging  the  convic- 
tions and  conduct  of  others.  He  seemed  to  arouse  the  least  possible 
antagonism  in  others,  and  I  never  heard  him  say  an  ill  word  of  any  other 
man.  And  these  things  grew  directly  out  of  his  being  a  man  of  piety. 
Other  features  of  his  character  were  plain  ;  this  was  striking.  He  made 
a  confession  of  his  faith  in  connection  with  the  First  Church  nearly  sixty- 
five  years  ago,  going  with  trembling  steps  but  with  firm  faith  to  the  pastor 
who  for  so  many  years  thereafter  was  his  firm  friend.  He  meant  what  he 
said  in  that  pastor's  study.  He  ratified  it  by  his  life.  He  was  from  the 
first  punctual  in  every  religious  duty,  and  soon  came  to  be  depended  upon 
by  the  church.  He  was  closely  associated  with  the  first  subscriptions 
taken  for  mission  purposes,  and  has  shown  me  the  books,  in  which  Dr. 
Herron  leads  the  list.  He  was  among  the  company  which,  more  than 
fifty  years  ago,  formed  the  Allegheny  County  Bible  Society.  In  April, 
1829,  he  was  chosen  an  elder  with  Harmar  Denny,  and  no  name  appears 
more  regularly  on  the  list  of  meetings  or  more  frequently  on  committees 
charged  with  difficult  duties.  In  the  great  revivals  of  the  church's  history 
he  was  deeply  interested,  and  loved  the  memories  of  those  times  of  re- 
freshing. After  an  interval,  in  which  he  wrought  earnestly  in  another 
church,  he  returned  to  the  First.  Older  now,  his  was  mainly  the  life  of 
love  of  the  ordinances  and  of  prayer.  The  early  Sabbath  morning  prayer 
meeting  was  his  delight.  As  he  came  out  of  its  room  and  the  pastor  entered 
it,  the  latter  was  sure  of  a  warm  greeting,  and  felt  the  stronger  for  know- 
ing that  he,  and  others  of  like  spirit,  had  been  praying  so  close  to  the 
pulpit.  He  bore  his  advancing  infirmities  with  exemplary  patience,  and 
submitted  calmly  to  the  severer  trials  of  the  death  of  his  two  sons,  the 
first  in  1880,  the  second  in  1881.  He  received  with  appreciation  and 
returned  in  affection  the  unremitting  care  of  the  faithful  companion  of 
his  life  (ten  years  ago  they  had  celebrated  their  golden  wedding)  and  of 
the  four  daughters  who  survive  him.  His  end  was  "  peace."  No  clouds. 
No  shadows  even.     He  had  long  "  walked  with  God,"  and  he  is  not,  be- 


216*  SUPPLEMENTARY    STATEMENT. 


cause    God    has  taken   him.     His  character,  his  life  and  his  death,  are 
trophies  of  grace  and  treasures  forever  to  his  family  and  the  church. 

S.  F.  S. 

Mr.  John  Herron  was  chosen  to  the  eldership  in  1832.  His 
sound  judgment  and  firm  character  were  always  relied  upon.  He 
removed  to  Minersville  and  gave  himself  and  his  property  to  the 
work  of  building  up  the  much  needed  and  always  useful  church 
there.  He  always  loved  this  church,  and  many  of  his  descend- 
ants have  worshiped  here ;  but  the  record  of  his  life  work  prop- 
erly belongs  to  the  history  of  that  part  of  our  city's  growth  in 
religious  things.  He  was  distantly  related  to  Dr.  Francis  Herron 
and  much  esteemed  by  him.  His  influence  was  for  many  years 
a  marked  and  constant  force  in  behalf  of  all  that  was  good. 

Mr.  John,  Wright  was  also  chosen  in  1832.  His  was  the  dispo- 
sition to  be  energetic  and  aggressive  in  Christian  work.  Among 
the  very  earliest  was  he,  with  his  warm  friend,  Mr.  James  Wilson, 
to  engage  in  Sabbath  School  work.  Mrs.  Mary  Smith,  in  1883, 
thus  wrote  of  him:  "For  many  years  he  was  the  efficient 
superintendent  of  the  Infant  School.  With  one  or  two  others, 
he  thought  that  the  church  did  not  take  decided  enough  ground 
on  the  subject  of  slavery.  They  withdrew  and  formed  a  church 
organization  that  came  to  naught.  Later  it  became  the  success- 
ful Central  Church.  To  use  his  own  language,  he  'repented 
in  sackcloth  and  ashes'  the  rest  of  his  life.  During  the  preva- 
lence of  the  cholera,  he  lost  his  wife  and  two  of  his  sons.  He 
then  removed  to  a  farm  in  Westmoreland  county,  where  he  lived 
a  useful  life  until  his  death,  about  two  or  three  years  ago."  I 
heard  often  of  Mr.  Wright's  continued  activity  as  well  as  of  his 
former  efficiency  in  the  First  Church.  Occasionally  he  visited 
the  city  in  later  years,  but  it  was  my  misfortune  never  to  have 
been  able  to  see  him. 

Mr.  Alexander  Ijaughlin  was  another  of  that  number  upon 
whom  the  hands  of  the  church  were  laid  in  1832.  He  lived  a 
life  of  consistent  piety  and  was  specially  gifted  in  prayer.  It 
was  his  constant  and  his  latest  language.  The  Session  put  on 
record  the  following  minute,  at  the  close  of  his  long  and  useful 
life,  in  1867  : 

Whereas,  it  has  pleased  Almighty  God  to  call  away  from  earth  His 
aged  servant,  Alexander  Laughlin,  an  elder  in  this  church,  our  associate 
and  brother :    and 


SUPPLEMENTARY    STATEMENT.  217 


Whereas,  by  this  dispensation  of  Providence  the  church  has  lost  a 
zealous  disciple  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  this  Session  a  faithful  member 
and  a  venerated  co-worker  and  counsellor,  his  family  a  beloved  husband 
and  father,  and  the  world  the  beneficent  example  of  a  Christian  man  :  and 

Whereas,  we  all  have  admired  and  loved  our  departed  brother,  and 
now  revere  his  memory;  therefore,  in  testimony  of  our  profound  regard, 

Resolved,  That  we  submit  to  the  decree  of  Omnipotence  with  humility; 
that  we  recognize  in  it  the  hand  of  a  merciful  and  gracious  Father,  and 
worship  reverently  at  His  feet.  "  The  Lord  gave  and  the  Lord  hath  taken 
away  :  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 

Resolved,  That  while  mourning  the  decease  of  our  dear  brother,  "we 
sorrow  not  even  as  others  which  have  no  hope,"  but  with  confidence  in 
the  promises  of  a  covenant-keeping  God,  and  in  the  confident  belief  that, 
he  who  has  served  Jesus  Christ  these  many  years  through  temptations  and 
trials,  is  now  forever  at  rest.  "Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the 
Lord  ;  yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their  labors,  and  their 
works  do  follow  them." 

Resolved,  That  we  recall  his  presence  among  us  with  unfeigned 
pleasure,  and  his  counsels  with  profit ;  we  review  with  honor  his  long  life 
of  humble  piety,  and  remembering  his  faith  and  works,  we  pray  that  a 
double  portion  of  his  spirit  may  descend  upon  us. 

Resolved,  That  we  sympathize  deeply  with  his  bereaved  family  in  their 
affliction,  and  yet  entreat  them  to  be  comforted — to  address  their  prayers 
to  a  gracious  God  ;  to  put  their  trust  in  His  might  and  love,  assured  that 
He  does  all  things  well. 

"The  Lord  bless  them,  and  keep  them,  the  Lord  make  his  face  to  shine 
upon  them,  and  be  gracious  to  them ;  the  Lord  lift  up  his  countenance 
upon  them,  and  give  them  peace." 

Here  let  me  group  the  three  elders  elected  in  1840,  all  of  whom 
have  left  precious  legacies  of  earnest  work  : 

Mr.  Frederick  Lorenz  was  well  known  in  business  relations  and 
faithful  in  all  church  duties.  He  was  on  the  building  com- 
mittee of  1851-3,  and  gave  the  work  much  time  and  attention. 
For  simplicity  and  sincerity  of  character  he  will  be  always 
remembered. 

Mr.  Hugh  McClelland  was  specially  useful  in  all  prayer  meet- 
ing life  and  work. 

Mr.  R.  W.  Poindexter's  activities  in  the  early  Sabbath  School 
work  are  recorded  in  McKnight's  Sabbath  School  History.  He 
was  stately  and  kindly  too.  He  had  been  a  teacher  before  his 
business  career,  and  possessed  considerable  literary  taste.  He  was 
most  thoroughly  the  gentleman  everywhere. 
15 


218  SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT. 


Of  the  twenty-seven  elders  chosen  during  the  first  seventy-one 
years  of  our  century,  none  survive  except  Mr.  Richard  Edwards, 
the  faithful  elder  of  the  Third  Church,  whose  presence  and 
words  last  year  at  the  "Jubilee"  of  that  church,  makes  us  regret 
the  more  his  absence  from  our  "Centennial."  May  he  be  re- 
stored and  spared  for  other  years  of  consistent  life  and  great 
usefulness. 

In  1855  four  additions  were  made  to  the  eldership — the  large 
ingathering  of  1851,  the  completion  of  the  new  church  building 
and  the  rapidly  growing  congregation  pointing  evidently  to  this 
step.  Of  these  but  one  survives,  Mr.  John  D.  McCord,  (now  of 
Philadelphia — an  elder  in  the  Spruce  Street  Church,)  whose  pres- 
ence Avith  us,  whose  satisfaction  in  all  that  is  cheering  in  our 
outlook,  and  the  warm  clasp  of  whose  hand  are  evidence  that  he 
will  never  forget  the  church  he  first  loved  and  served — as  it 
surely  will  not  forget  him. 

Mr.  Samuel  W.  Spencer  (of  that  four)  was  not  spared  long  to 
discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  to  which  he  had  been  earlier 
unwilling  to  be  elected,  but  he  had  so  earnestly  engaged  in  other 
duties  that  his  memory  will  be  cherished  carefully.  He  died  in 
1856,  March  12th,  aged  sixty  years.  He  came  to  America  in 
1816,  and  to  Pittsburgh  in  1821.  Born  of  Christian  parents,  (a 
mercantile  family  in  Londonderry,)  he  first  settled  himself  in 
a  church,  then  in  business.  Here  he  was  successfully  engaged 
from  1821  to  1850,  when  he  retired.  That  year  he  formed  his 
connection  with  the  First  Church.  He  was  the  Treasurer  of  the 
Building  Committee  for  the  new  church,  and  gave  an  immense 
amount  of  time  and  attention  to  the  work.  He  was  the  intimate 
friend  of  Mr.  Francis  Bailey,  and  Dr.  Paxton  wrote  one  of  his 
sons,  after  his  death,  thus :  "In  the  loss  of  your  father,  I  feel  that 
I  have  shared  your  bereavement.  During  the  short  period  of 
his  official  connection  with,  our  church,  I  learned  to  love  him 
very  much,  and  to  lean  upon  him  as  a  judicious  counsellor  and 
efficient  help.  Oh,  how  earnestly  did  he  follow  Christ !  '  For  him 
to  live  was  Christ,  to  die  was  gain.' " 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  First  Presbyte- 
rian Church  of  the  City  of  Pittsburgh,  held  on  Saturday,  the 
15th  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1856,  the  following  preamble  and  res- 
olution were  offered  by  William  McCandless,  and  unanimously 
adopted : 


SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT.  219 


We  are  called  upon  again,  iu  the  Providence  of  (rod,  to  mourn  the  loss 
by  death  of  one  of  our  number. 

Mr.  Samuel  Spencer  is  gone,  and  the  "place  that  knew  him  once  shall 
know  him  no  more."  As  a  member  of  the  Board  he  was  kind,  affable 
and  courteous  ;  as  our  Treasurer  lie  was  strict  in  his  integrity,  and  as  a 
man  we  loved  him  for  his  great  kindness  of  heart  and  his  manly  deport- 
ment in  all  his  intercourse  with  us.  Chosen  from  the  congregation  by 
his  fellow  communicants  to  the  office  of  ruling  elder  in  the  church,  and 
having  but  a  few  brief  days  before  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office, 
we  have  been  permitted  to  see  his  Christian  bearing  in  all  its  beauty  and 
simplicity,  his  sympathy,  his  love  of  Christ,  all  blended  in  beautiful  har- 
mony and  displaying  the  brightness  of  the  Christian's  life.  But  the  sum- 
mons came  and  found  his  lamp  trimmed  and  burning,  waiting  the  coming 
of  the  Bridegroom.  His  Redeemer  has  called  him  home,  to  join  in  the 
chorus  of  the  redeemed  in  heaven.     Thy  will,  O  Lord,  be  done,  not  ours. 

Resolved,  That  we  cherish  the  memory  of  our  brother  and  friend,  and  as 
a  remembrance  of  him,  Ave  direct  this  preamble  and  resolution  to  be 
entered  at  large  on  the  minutes,  and  that  a  copy  be  furnished  to  his  sur- 
viving relatives. 

WM.  McCANDLESS, 

Secretary. 

Mr.  Samuel  Rea,  one  of  the  four  chosen  in  1855,  was  one  of  the 
manliest  figures  and  solidest  characters  of  our  church  history.  He 
made  his  way  among  men  by  unquestioned  integrity  and  sound 
judgment,  As  an  intelligent  hearer  of  the  gospel  he  had  no 
superior.  Well  I  remember  his  face  the  first  day  I  stood  before 
the  congregation,  and  I  have  always  missed  it  since  God  took 
him.  He  was  fond  of  sacred  song,  long  a  member  of  the  volun- 
teer choir,  and  often  relied  upon  at  social  meetings  to  lead  the 
singing.  He  was  pre-eminently  the  counsellor  "of  the  Session,  and 
both  pastors  since  1855  knew  the  soundness  and  sureness  of  his 
convictions.  He  was  certainly  one  of  the  firmest  men  ever  known 
here,  while  never  dictatorial  or  opinionated.  The  following  is 
the  Session's  record  of  appreciation  : 

Nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  passed  away  since  elder  Samuel  Rea 
was  called  by  the  united  voice  of  the  people  of  the  First  Church  to  serve 
them  as  a  member  of  its  Session.  These  swiftly  flying  years  have  but  con- 
firmed the  wisdom  of  their  early  choice,  as  they  daily  brought  into  clearer 
light  and  beauty  the  noble  traits  and  Christian  graces  which  first  attracted 
their  notice. 

Throughout  his  active  and  useful  life  he  fully  deserved,  as  he  always 
received,  the  confidence  and  regard  of  all  who  knew  him.  From  the  large 
circle  who  knew  him  intimately,  he  received,  to  the  fullest  extent,  their 
abiding  esteem  and  most  complete  confidence. 


220  SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT. 


His  modest  self-depreciation,  and  quiet  demeanor,  were  only  equaled 
by  the  well  formed  judgment  and  conscientious  purpose  which  helped  to 
make  his  counsel  so  highly  valued  in  church  and  society.  No  experiences 
of  life  could  take' from  him  a  life  long  trust  in  God's  goodness,  and  a 
cheerful  faith  in  his  fellow  men,  which  bore  constant  fruitage  in  kindly 
words  and  deeds  and  loving  prayers. 

The  unvaried  testimony  to  a  life  without  reproach  from  those  who  met 
him  daily  amid  the  thronging  pressure  of  business  activities,  is  but  the 
fitting  counterpart  of  ours  who  knew  and  loved  him  in  the  closer  relations 
of  church  and  home  life.  There  are  many  to  rise  up  and  call  him  blessed 
for  his  example,  counsel  and  help  :  and  we  confidently  believe  he  has 
received  the  benediction  of  the  Master :  Well  done,  good  and  faithful 
servant,  enter  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord. 

We  shall  cherish  the  remembrance  of  his  character  and  example  for 
ourselves,  and  will  commend  it  to  the  membership  of  the  whole  church  he 
so  devotedly  loved  and  so  faithfully  served,  as  another  link  in  the  chain 
of  precious  memories  which,  for  nearly  a  century,  God  has  been  weaving 
for  the  comfort  and  edification  of  His  people  here. 

"The  fathers,  where  are  they  ?"     But  "our  hope  is  in  Thee." 

[Entered  by  order  of  Session,  November  3d,  1878. 

D.  ROBINSON,  Clerk.] 

Mr.  Robert  Beer  was  the  last  to  leave  us  of  those  elected  in 
1855.  His  early  youth  was  spent  in  the  hardships  of  frontier 
life,  and  his  early  manhood  was  employed  in  varied  undertakings, 
almost  always  successful,  which  made  his  name  and  form  one  of 
the  hest  known  of  our  older  citizens  for  years.  There  was  a  singu- 
lar purity  and  love  of  religion  in  him  from  his  youth  up.  He 
has  told  his  friends  that  he  sometimes  came  to  town  unprepared 
to  appear  in  church  as  he  wished  ;  but,  while  other  men  roamed 
the  streets,  he  would  sit  on  the  stone  steps  "in  his  tow-clothing 
where  he  could  hear"  and  then  get  away  before  the  congregation 
was  dismissed.  He  was  our  type  of  a  perfectly  sensitive  con- 
science, and  an  absolute  determination  to  do  everything  that  was 
right.  He  was  as  careful  of  the  feelings  of  others  as  he  was  care- 
ful, in  later  years,  of  exposing  himself  to  a  "draught."  He  loved 
the  house  of  God,  and  made  the  gift  that  completed  the  pure 
silver  of  the  communion  service,  and  ordered  the  tablet  which 
commemorates  Dr.  Herron.  His  visiting  with  elder  Bailey  (as 
Mr.  B.'s  Lieutenant,  he  used  to  say,)  for  twenty  years,  made  him 
known  to  hundreds  of  Christian  families.  He  taught  at  almost 
the  beginning  of  the  Sabbath  Schools,  and  approved  the  motion  to 
buy  the  "  sweet  cakes "  which  garnished  the  first  anniversary 
festival  for  the  children.     The  Session  were  often  his  guests  that 


SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT.  221 

he  might  share  in  its  counsels,  after  it  became  too  great 
an  exposure  for  him  to  venture  out  at  night.  Once  he  said, 
what  deserves  always  to  be  remembered  as  a  way  of  decision  for 
a  perplexed  soul :  "  It  has  been  a  little  dark  with  me,  lately  :  but 
I  know  this,  anyhow :  "  Whatever' s  for  Jesus  Christ,  that  I'm  for." 
The  Session  entered  this  expressive  minute  at  his  death  : 

Elder  Robert  Beer,  for  more  than  half  a  century  an  honored  and  con- 
sistent member  of  this  church,  and  for  twenty-five  years  past  an  esteemed 
member  of  its  Session,  departed  this  life  on  the  24th  day  of  May,  1880. 

For  a  number  of  late  years,  Mr.  Beer  was,  in  this  Session,  the  only  re- 
maining representative  of  a  worthy  body  of  men,  who  many  years  since 
were  chosen  by  the  congregation  to  rule  over  them  in  spiritual  things.  A 
noble  company  of  men  indeed  they  were,  well  deserving  the  respect  and 
affection  which  the  people  of  the  First  Church  had  been  accustomed  to 
pay  them  :  and  among  them  all  there  was  no  one  to  whom  these  were 
more  universally  given  than  to  him  whose  absence  we  now  mourn. 

His  daily  life  among  us  for  all  these  years  was  so  steady  a  flow  of  kind 
and  loving  deeds,  so  deeply  marked  by  a  simple  and  unaffected  piety,  a 
humble  estimate  of  himself,  and  a  conscientious  fear  lest  he  should  in  any 
way  give  offense  to  any  of  his  brethren  :  so  full  of  generous  charities  to 
the  poor,  and  so  liberal  in  gifts  to  all  the  work  of  the  church  at  home  and 
abroad,  that  these  virtues  became  so  much  a  part  of  himself,  that  to  re- 
member him,  is  to  recall  them  also. 

He  has  entered  into  his  rest,  full  of  years,  rich  in  faith,  and  we  doubt 
not  has  received  his  Divine  Lord's  welcome :  "  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant ;  thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things,  I  will  make 
thee  ruler  over  many  things." 

Of  the  four  elders  elected  in  1862,  two  are  in  service  elsewhere, 
(Messrs.  Renshaw  and  Spencer,)  two  are  with  us  still,  (Messrs. 
Robinson  and  Davis,)  and  one  has  been  called  to  his  reward.  Mr. 
Joseph  McKnight  will  always  be  remembered  among  us  by  his 
tenderness,  his  kindness  to  the  poor  and  his  ardent  interest  in 
the  instruction  and  salvation  of  the  young.  Who  will  ever 
forget  his  pleadings  to  children  not  to  defer  (as  he  had  done,) 
the  acceptance  of  Christ  until  childhood  had  passed!  Most, 
perhaps  all,  of  the  young  ladies  of  his  Bible  class,  became  mem- 
bers of  the  church.  [Two  of  them  are  now  married  to  ministers.] 
He  was  a  most  genial  companion  and  had  the  warmest  of 
warm  hearts.  The  record  made  on  the  Session's  minutes  is  as 
follows  : 

Elder  Joseph  McKnight,  greatly  beloved  by  the  people  of  the  First 
Church,  and  for  ten  years  past  a  member  of  its  Session,  departed  this  life 
<m  the  25th  day  of  the  past  month,  (October,  1872.)     He  was  suddenly 


222  SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT. 


called,  it  seemed  to  us  who  remain,  from  the  midst  of  unfinished  business 
plans,  an  endeared  family  circle,  and  abundant  church  labors  in  which  his 
heart  and  his  hands  were  warmly  engaged,  to  the  higher  companionship 
and  restful  activities  of  heaven.  But  as  we  remember  his  frequent 
mention  during  the  past  months  of  his  probable  early  decease,  we  are 
assured  that  he  had  learned,  "  that  as  you  work,  your  heart  must  watch," 
and  was  ready  and  waiting  when  the  Master  called. 

The  pastor  and  Session  would  bear  their  sincere  testimony  to  the  Christian 
character  and  labors  of  one  whom  they  both  loved  and  honored,  and  whose 
death  they  deeply  deplore.  Full  of  generous  impulses,  and  wise  in  counsel, 
ready  to  every  good  word  and  work,  yet  averse  from  much  publicity,  kind 
to  the  poor,  and  open  handed  in  support  of  the  work  of  the  church  at 
large,  we  shall  remember  with  profit,  the  warm  hearted  zeal  of  our  de- 
parted brother  for  the  spiritual  interests  of  Zion,  but  most  gratefully  do 
we  call  to  mind  the  tender  concern  he  seemed  always  to  have  for  the  sal- 
vation of  the  children  and  young  people  of  this  church  and  congregation. 

We  thank  God  for  the  grace  He  bestowed  upon  His  servant  while  living 
among  us,  for  the  "hope  in  his  death"  and  for  the  "exceeding  great 
reward  "  upon  which  he  has  entered. 

Of  those  elected  in  1868  two  are  now  connected  with  the  East 
Liberty  Church  (Messrs.  Wishart  and  Dickson)  and  two  are 
dead.  One  of  these  remained  but  a  short  time  with  us  before 
removal  and  the  other  served  but  about  eighteen  months  and  then 
went  on  to  the  higher  service. 

Mr.  Ebenezer  T.  Cook  was  the  youngest  elder  (save  one)  this 
church  ever  had  and  the  only  one  to  die  among  us  in  youth. 
He  was  an  honest  convert  and  a  devoted  Christian  worker, 
Secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of  the  city 
and  an  elder  in  the  church  within  about  one  year.  So  quickly  did 
one  follow  upon  the  other  that  it  would  seem  to  be  God's  purpose 
to  show  how  much  can  be  done  by  a  devoted  soul  in  a  brief  life. 

The  Sessional  record  reads  thus : 

Ebenezer  T.  Cook,  aged  twenty-eight  years,  admitted  to  the  communion 
of  this  church,  upon  profession  of  faith,  March  7th,  1867  ;  ordained  an 
elder  therein,  March  2d,  1868 ;  entered  into  rest,  October  13th,  1869. 

How  brief  the  record  !  He  put  his  hand  to  the  plow,  and  lo  !  it  was  a 
palm.  He  walked  with  us  here  but  a  few  days,  yet  long  enough  to  awaken 
in  our  hearts  the  most  hopeful  anticipations  of  an  honored  and  useful  life  ; 
long  enough  to  win  the  esteem  and  affection  of  all  who  knew  him ;  long 
enough  to  make  his  example  a  cherished  remembrance  among  the  young 
men  of  the  church,  'and  "in  the  morning"  the  Master  called. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT.  223 


"  I  had  much  work  laid  out  for  Jesus,"  he  said,  "  but  others  will  do  it 
better;"  and  so,  content,  he  passed  into  the  "land  of  cloudless  sunshine 
where  Jesus  is  the  King."  We  cherish  his  memory.  The  mention  of  his 
name  among  us  is  an  argument  for  consecration,  a  stimulus  to  labor,  and  a 
plea  for  patience.  Lord  Jesus,  help  us  each  to  follow  him  as  he  followed 
Thee. 

The  two  elders  elected  in  1860,  (Messrs.  J.  E.  Ayers  and 
Henry  Forsyth,)  both  removed  after  a  few  years  of  earnest  ser- 
vice, which  they  continued  elsewhere. 

The  present  Session  is  composed  of  the  two  already  mentioned, 
chosen  in  1862,  of  the  three  chosen  in  1873,  (Messrs.  John  A. 
Caughey,  A.  M.  Marshall  and  James  Laughlin,  Jr.)  and  of  the 
four  chosen  in  1879,  (Messrs.  Samuel  A.  Espy,  Chas.  Holmes, 
James  L.  Marshall  and  John  T.  Daniel).  May  the  same  confi- 
dence and  esteem  which  has  so  marked  the  past  relations  of  the 
church  and  its  Session  continue  to  be  manifested  to  them  and  to 
their  successors  forever.  Thus  shall  the  church  "have  rest  and 
[be]  edified,  and  walking  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  and  in  the  com- 
fort of  the  Holy  Ghost  [be]  multiplied."     (Act's  ix  :31.) 


The  following  reminiscences  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  Lea  are 
printed  here  as  mainly  referring  to  this  portion  of  the  history, 
and  may  well  stand  as  "provoking  to  love  and  good  works"  all 
who  follow  in  the  succession  of  the  eldership  : 

Pittsburgh,  May  3d,  1883. 

Dr.  Scovel  : 

In  the  year  1823  Rev.  Dr.  Herron  had  his  famous  Bible 
class.  At  first  nearly  the  whole  church  attended — the  aged  members 
sitting  in  the  gallery,  or  back  seats,  the  younger  ones  around  the  pulpit. 
It  almost  entirely  consisted  of  question  and  answer  ;  the  more  advanced 
scholars  frequently  questioning  the  Doctor.  No  text  book  or  commentary 
in  class.     That  winter  I  joined  the  church. 

Elders :  John  Hannen,  "  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  there  was  no  guile  ;" 
Wm.  Blair,  a  stern,  good  man  from  the  north  of  Ireland  ;  Judge  Snowden, 
an  accomplished,  Christian  gentleman ;  Father  Cooper,  the  terror  of  all 
young  applicants,  whom  he  always  questioned  on  "  Hopkinsianism."  Mr. 
James  Clow,  the  singer,  had  moved  to  Beaver  county.  These  all  ruled 
the  church  and  obeyed  the  Doctor.  Mr.  Evans,  with  his  tuning  fork  and 
music  book,  stood  before  the  pulpit  and  led  the  mechanical  part  of  the 
singing.  Dr.  Herron  relished  "  Pisgah,"  and  the  chorus  of  "  Silver  Street." 
He  knew  no  more  of  other  tunes  than  did  Frederick  the  Great.      The 


224  SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT. 

elders  who  succeeded  these  five  you  can  trace  in  the  records.  Hugh  McClel- 
land led  the  singing  at  the  prayer  meetings  of  the  "  revival."  Harmar 
Denny  was  very  dignified  in  his  appearance,  and  one  of  the  finest  figures 
as  a  "cavalry  officer"  when  the  company  trained  at  the  lower  end  of  Lib- 
erty street.  Mr.  Hanson  was  quiet.  Your  friend  William  Plummer,  had 
a  kind  manner — the  voice  and  manner  of  John  Bvshnel,  soft  as  a  lady's. 
John  Wright,  faithful  unto  death.  James  Wilson,  always  reliable.  lie- 
Corel,  gentlemanly.  James  Marshall,  impetuous,  mostly  right.  Robert 
Beer  nearly  idolized  successively  his  three  pastors.  Francis  Bailey,  every- 
thing that  an  elder  ought  to  be  ! 

Now,  if  I  do  not  stop,  you  will  cry  out  as  Festus  did  to  Paul ;  and  if 
so,  I  believe  I  should  make  the  same  reply.  William  Plummer  had  two 
brothers.  George  studied  divinity  ;  left  our  body.  Thomas,  in  his  will, 
left  a  legacy  for  First  Church  Sabbath  School,  which  first  built  a  school 
house,  then,  under  Judge  Porter  and  others,  it  became  the  Sixth  Presby- 
terian Church.  I  think  John  Herron,  of  Minersville,  was  once  an  elder 
in  the  First  Church  ;  at  any  rate,  he  was  a  godly  man. 

I  think  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  Western  Theological  Seminary, 
in  its  earlier  years,  was  sustained  mainly  by  the  First  Church.  Dr.  Her- 
ron's  casting  vote  decided  its  location,  and  he  pressed  a  willing  people 
often  to  the  verge  of  endurance  for  its  support.  When  I  was  appointed 
agent  to  raise  $10,000  for  its  endowment,  I  was  empowered  to  say  that 
Michael  Allen  would  pay  the  tenth,  and  that  a  son  of  elder  Blair  paid 
my  traveling  expenses.  There  was  then  a  great  cry  against  agents,  but 
one  thus  heralded  could  not  be  spoken  against.  The  Western  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  was  born  in  the  little  lecture  room  back  of  the  old 
church  building.  In  Dr.  Herron's  parlor,  John  Breckenridge  succeeded 
in  raising  a  pledge  for  $10,000  for  his  "educational  scheme,"  which  he 
avowed  was  absolutely  necessary  to  ensure  the  success  of  his  plea  elsewhere. 
The  late  James  Laughlin  was  useful  to  you.  His  presence  always  recalled 
to  memory  his  brother,  Alexander  Laughlin  ;  and  the  late  James  Dalzell 
was  linked  in  memory  with  his  noble  brother  John. 

Dear  brother,  is  young  Pittsburgh  equal  to  old  Pittsburgh  in  solid 
worth  ?  Can  you  mate  those  who  labored  with  Herron  and  Paxton  ?  I 
hope  so  ! 

The  Richard  Lea  of  1823,  aged  thirteen,  subscribes  himself, 

Yours, 

R.  Lea.     [1883.] 

[Received  May  3d,  1883.— S.  F.  S.] 


SUPPLEMENTARY  STATEMENT. 


225 


The    following  full  list  of   elders,  with  date  of   election,  is 
printed  here  for  convenience  of  reference : 

Ordained 

James  Hanson 1832 

Frederick  Lorenz 1840 


In  Office  in 

Robert  Galbraith 1789 

John  Wilkins 1789 

Wm.  Dunning 1789 

George  Pluramer 1801 

Jeremiah  Sturgeon 1803 

James  B.  Clow 1803 

John  Wilkins 1803 

Wm.  Dunning 1803 

James  Cooper 1811 

[As  early  as  1803.) 

James  B.  Clow 1811 

Ordained. 

James  Brown 1812 

JohnM.  Snowden 1812 

Wm.  Blair 1818 

Thomas  Hazelton 1818 

J.  Thompson 1818 

John  Hannen 1818 

James  Sample 1827 

Harmar  Denny 1829 

Wm.  Plummer 1829 

James  Wilson 1829 

John  Herron 1832 

John  Wright 1832 

Richard  Edwards 1832 

Alexander  Laughlin 1832 

James  H.  Davis 1832 


F.  G.  Bailey 1840 

Hugh  McClelland 1840 

R.  W.  Poindexter 1840 

Samuel  Spencer 1855 

Robert  Beer 1855 

Samuel  Rea 1855 

John  D.  McCord 1855 

David  Robinson 1862 

Joseph  McKnight 1862 

Joseph  W.  Spencer 1862 

John  A.  Renshaw 1862 

Robert  S.  Davis 1862 

J.  W.  Wishart..... 1868 

James  Dickson 1868 

E.  T.  Cook 1868 

Robert  A.Clarke 1868 

J.  E.  Ayers 1870 

Henry  Forsyth 1870 

John  A.  Caughey 1873 

A.  M.  Marshall 1873 

James  Laughlin,  Jr 1873 

Samuel  A.  Espy 1879 

Charles  Holmes 1879 

James  L.Marshall 1879 

John  T.  Daniel 1879 


At  the  conclusion  of  this  paper,  the  Rev.  William  Miller, 
pastor  of  Beulah  Church  (Presbytery  of  Blairsville),  being  in- 
troduced, presented  the  congratulations  of  that  venerable  church. 
Mr.  Miller  called  to  mind  the  fact  that  in  the  first  pastorate,  that 
of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Barr,  the  church  of  Beulah  (then  known  as 
Pitts  Township  Church,)  was  associated  with  the  First  Church  in 
the  call,  and  the  two  constituted  the  charge.  He  referred  to  the 
fact  that  the  church  of  Pitts  Township  made  a  call  upon  the 
Presbytery  for  help,  similar  to  ours,  and  very  soon  after  it.  As 
the  First  Church  appeared  alive  at  the  April  meeting,  the  other 
appeared  at  the  October  meeting  of  that  same  eventful  year, 
1784.  Some  pleasing  facts  were  given  concerning  the  early 
friendship  between  the  pastors  and  the  churches,  and  intelligence 


22(l  SUPPLEMENTARY    STATEMENT. 


given  of  the  steady  life  and  growth  of  the  Beulah  Church. 
Though  we  had  been  independent  of  each  other  since  1789,  there 
had  always  been  many  bonds  of  intimacy  and  fellowship  between 
the  congregations.  Mr.  Miller  intimated  that  there  would  be  a 
celebration  of  their  centennial  in  October,  and  invoked  the 
blessing  of  God  upon  the  work  of  the  century  to  come. 

The  Rev.  Wm,  Robinson,  pastor  of  the  Providence  Church, 
Allegheny  City,  followed.  Mr.  Robinson  claimed  a  certain  affinity 
with  the  old  church,  which  he  defined  as — because  he  had  married 
one  of  the  sisters — that  of  a  brother-in-law.  He  had  worshiped 
here  when  a  student  at  the  Theological  Seminary  and  had  always 
known  the  work  and  history  of  the  church.  His  own  charge, 
which  had  been  indeed  a  "Providence"  to  many  in  spiritual 
things,  had  originated  in  the  faithful  work  of  one  Christian  woman 
of  this  church  [Mrs.  R.  W.  Poindexter],  who,  many  years  ago, 
and  assisted  by  two  theological  students,  had  planted  the  church 
by  organizing  a  Sabbath  School  in  a  lager  beer  hall.  The  con- 
gratulations and  best  wishes  of  Mr.  Robinson  were  expressed 
with  great  fervor  and  found  an  echo  in  many  hearts. 

Thus  closed  the  more  formal  exercises  of  the  occasion.  A  few 
words  from  Dr.  Cowan,  announcements  for  the  evening  social 
meeting,  and  the  audience  separated. 


REMINISCENCES.  227 


TUESDAY   EVENING. 

APRIL    15TH,    1884. 


REMINISCENCES. 


Very  early  in  the  evening  the  people  began  to  assemble  in  the 
lecture  room  and  Sabbath  School  rooms.  These,  because  of  their 
perfect  adaptation  to  all  the  demands  of  the  occasion,  gave  new 
cause  of  thankfulness  that  they  had  been  completed.  Busy  hands 
had  arrayed  them  most  tastefully,  and  the  scene  presented  as  the 
upper  floor  with  its  tributary  rooms  and  galleries  were  filled  with 
happy  throngs  and  became  vocal  with  eager  greetings  and  bright 
with  the  good  cheer  of  Christian  fellowship,  renewed  in  many  in- 
stances after  years  of  interval,  was  one  long  to  be  remembered. 
The  contrast  with  the  homeless  condition  of  the  infant  church, 
utterly  unfurnished  a  century  ago  for  either  work  or  worship, 
pressed  itself  upon  many  hearts.  How  gladly  were  welcomed 
some  of  the  aged  members  who  made  special  exertions  to  attend 
the  re-union.  Reminiscences  too  sacred  for  the  public  services, 
came  up  to  mutual  remembrance.  There  were  moistened  eyes  too, 
as  well  as  merry  faces,  when  the  thought  came  of  some  the 
church  had  loved  and  honored,  who  seemed  but  a  few  years  ago 
cpaite  as  reasonably  to  anticipate  mingling  in  these  pleasant  fes- 
tivities as  any  who  were  present.  But  as  they  were  remem- 
bered, who  can  say  they  were  not  in  some  sense  present  joying 
and  beholding  the  order  ? 

Below,  most  admirable  arrangements  had  been  made  for  just 
such  refreshments  as  best  helped,  but  would  not   hinder  the  re- 


uniting  of  a  family  so  widely  scattered.  Children  and  parents 
(and  some  grandparents)  were  there  together,  and  many  helpful 
ones  of  former  days  came  with  many  representatives  of  sister 
churches,  at  the  widely  circulated  invitation  of  the  committee. 
The  reputation  of  the  old  church  for  hospitality,  suffered  noth- 
ing in  connection  with  the  ample  and  admirable  arrangements 
of  the  evening.  The  present  membership  seemed  to  vie  with 
each  other  in  doing  the  utmost  of  each  to  make  the  occasion 
pleasant  to  former  members  and  older  members,  and  reassuring 
as  to  future  attachment  to  the  dear  old  church. 

About  nine  o'clock  the  throngs  were  gradually  transferred  to 
the  main  audience  room.  They  were  Avelcomed  there  with  an 
anthem  by  the  choir,  whose  magnificent  choral  singing  through- 
out the  exercises  had  lent  so  much  of  devotional  interest  to  the 
occasion,  and  to  whom  most  earnest  thanks  are  due. 

It  was  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  a  sudden  indisposition 
prevented  the  attendance  of  Dr.  Paxton.  Many  had  anticipated 
that  his  reminiscences  would  prove  one  of  the  most  delightful 
and  valuable  features  of  the  whole  occasion.  Addresses,  im- 
promptu, were  made  by  a  number  of  those  present,  of  which 
such  imperfect  fragments  as  can  now  be  gathered  are  presented. 

It  was  fitting  that  the  first  of  these  kindly  expressions 
should  be  made  by  Dr.  E.  P.  Cowan,  the  already  well  known 
and  beloved  pastor  of  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church.  Though 
so  recently  come  among  us,  one  of  his  first  duties  had  been  to 
conduct  the  semi-centennial  festival  of  the  Third  Church,  and 
thus  he  had  learned  to  know  the  mother  church  in  studying  the 
childhood  of  the  daughter.  Dr.  Cowan  happily  mingled  the 
grave  and  the  gay  in  congratulating  the  church  upon  the  long 
period  of  life  now  passed.  The  assurance  that  the  First  Church 
was  "orthodox,"  was  received  with  merriment  enough  to  make  it 
evident  that  the  community  understood  the  constancy  of  the  old 
congregation.  The  warm  and  hearty  words  of  Dr.  Cowan  found 
their  echo  in  a  freshened  sense  of  the  tender  ties  with  which  the 
First  is  bound  to  the  Third,  and  a  quickened  desire  for  its  pros- 
perity and  special  blessing  upon  the  faithful  labors  of  its  present 
pastor. 

Mr.  John  Renshaw  being  called  upon  in  behalf  of  Shadyside 
Church,  responded  in  remarks  which  referred  to  his  memories 
of  the  time  when  he  was  connected  with  the  old  church.     Mr. 


REMINISCENCES.  229 


Renshaw  had  been  an  elder  in  the  First  Church,  and  was 
really  the  founder  of  the  Shadyside  Church.  It  was  a  gratifi- 
cation that  one  honored  in  both  congregations  and  so  trusted 
in  the  whole  community,  could  be  present  to  represent  one  of 
the  most  flourishing  of  the  younger  churches  into  which  the 
life  of  the  old  church  has  freely  entered. 

The  Rev.  N.  B.  C.  Comingo  (of  a  suburban  church,)  would 
have  been  designated  by  his  name,  (Neville  B.  Craig,)  even  had 
he  not  been  by  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  the  present 
membership  of  the  First  Church.  His  presence  was  a  peculiar 
pleasure,  accompanying  as  he  did,  his  mother,  whose  name  is  con- 
nected so  prominently  with  the  earliest  activities  of  the  young 
women's  first  associations  for  missionary  work.  Mr.  Comingo 
mentioned  the  fact,  scarcely  to  be  paralleled,  that  six  generations 
of  the  family  to  which  he  belonged  had  worshiped  in  the  church 
since  its  origin  in  1784.  He  recalled  the  accounts  of  the  past 
which  he  had  heard  from  others,  and  spoke  of  the  blessing  which 
had  come  to  the  city  and  community  through  the  steady  life  and 
work  of  the  First  Church  during  its  completed  century. 

The  earnest  and  vigorous  pastor  of  the  Sixth  Church,  the 
Reverend  H.  C.  McClelland,  spoke  of  the  early  relations  of  that 
church  to  the  First,  of  the  constancy  which  had  been  charac- 
teristic of  the  First  Church  history,  of  the  solid  (and  in  length 
abundant,)  pulpit  instruction  which  had  been  given  to  theo- 
logical students  and  others  who  worshiped  here  :  and,  true  to  his 
own  burning  zeal,  exhorted  the  church  to  a  devotedness  which 
should  surpass  its  past  in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory. 

Mr.  William  Little,  being  introduced  by  Mr.  Scovel,  spoke  as 
follows : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  :  When  I  was  a  little  boy,  nearly 
three-quarters  of  a  century  ago,  I  sometimes  declaimed  a  little 
speech  commencing  in  this  way  : 

"You'd  scarce  expect  one  of  my  age 
To  speak  in  public  on  the  stage." 

If  such  a  thing  would  be  unexpected  in  a  boy  scarce  three 
feet  high,  how  much  more  so  must  it  appear  for  one  who  has 
passed  the  allotted  period  of  man's  life,  thus  to  make  an  exhibi- 
tion of  himself. 


230  REMINISCENCES. 


My  only  excuse  for  such  conduct  in  one  who  ought  to  know 
better,  is  that  my  friend  Mr.  Scovel  must  be  held  responsible, 
and  it  happened  in  this  wise  : 

Some  time  since  I  met  the  Doctor,  and  in  conversation  with 
him  on  the  approaching  centennial  celebration,  I  innocently  re- 
marked, "  Do  you  know,  Doctor,  that  I  am  perhaps  the  only 
living  person  who  was  baptized  by  Mr.  Steele,  the  predecessor  of 
Dr.  Herron?"  "Is  that  so?"  said  he.  "Then  we  must  have  you  at 
the  anniversay."  "  Certainly  I  will  be  there,  if  alive,"  said  I,  not  • 
dreaming  that  the  Doctor  had  any  hidden  design  upon  me.  Ac- 
1  cordingly  I  came  here  to-night,  on  invitation  of  your  committee, 
and  now  learn  that  I  am  expected  to  exhibit  myself  as  a 
veritable  antique.  [Laughter.]  You  know  that  connoisseurs  in 
gems  are  particularly  delighted  if  they  can  obtain  one  of  un- 
doubted antiquity,  and  if  it  is  a  little  battered,  if  it  only  gives 
undoubted  evidence  of  age  and  original  purity,  it  is  prized  accord- 
ingly. Whether  these  qualities  Avill  apply  to  me  or  not  is  for 
you  to  judge.  As  to  the  antiquity  there  can  be  no  doubt,  and  so 
I  now  present  myself  before  you,  as  a  veritable  antique  in  a 
tolerably  good  state  of  preservation. 

To  prove  my  title,  I  believe  I  am  expected  to  relate  some 
reminiscences  of  the  olden  time  when  this  old  church  was  young. 

In  this  matter  I  have  been  largely  forestalled  by  my  vener- 
able friend,  Rev.  Richard  Lea,  who  this  afternoon  gave  a  very 
full  and  succinct  history  of  the  earlier  men  and  days  of  the 
church,  leaving  but  little  for  me  to  say,  and  I  might  stop  just 
here,  and  say  in  the  words  of  another,  slightly  altered,  "  which  I 
saw,  and  part  of  which  I  was."  Mr.  Lea,  himself,  is  an  antique 
gem  of  purest  water,  and  I  gladly  here  drop  a  tribute  to  the  worth 
of  a  man  who,  from  boyhood  up  to  the  mature  age  at  which  he 
has  arrived,  has  truly  borne  the  reputation  of  being  "  an  Israelite 
indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile." 

I  remember,  with  great  distinctness,  all  the  venerable  men 
whom  he  mentioned  as  the  pillars  of  the  church  under  Dr. 
Herron's  administration — Elders  Cooper,  Hannen,  Snowden, 
Spencer,  Wright,  and  many  other  worthies  as  they  ministered  at 
the  altar  of  their  Master.  I  recall  also,  in  my  mind's  eye, 
the  noted  old  families  of  Pittsburgh  who  occupied  the  large 
square  pews  in  the  front  part  and  corners  of  the  church.  The 
old  square  church,  built  as  you  have  heard,    over  the  original 


REMINISCENCES.  231 


log  house,  the  addition  of  the  wings,  the  hanging  of  the  elegant 
chandelier  presented  by  General  O'Hara,  all  are  as  fresh  in  my 
recollection  as  if  of  yesterday.  You  will  excuse  me,  I  am  sure, 
if  I  relate  an  anecdote  or  two  of  that  odd  genius  who  for  so 
many  years  officiated  as  sexton  of  the  church,  to  the  great  comfort 
of  the  congregation,  and  afterwards  to  their  intense  amusement. 
I  mean  Archie  Henderson.  As  to  the  church,  it  was  always  kept 
in  complete  order;  dirt  and  dust  were  strangers  to  the  place. 
But  Archie  did  not  like  boys  and  dogs.  He  was  the  terror  of  all 
bad  boys,  but  to  dogs  he  had  a  particular  aversion. 

In  those  days  there  must  have  been  more  dogs  in  proportion 
to  the  population  than  at  present,  or  else  they  were  more 
piously  inclined,  for  certain  it  is,  they  very  often  intruded  their 
presence  in  the  church,  to  the  great  disgust  of  the  sexton.  He 
was  always,  however,  equal  to  the  occasion,  and  arming  himself 
with  a  cudgel,  he  would  follow  the  unhappy  canine  all  through 
the  house,  until  an  opportunity  to  inflict  corporal  punishment 
offered,  when  down  came  the  clubhand  loud  rose  the  lamentations 
of  the  unfortunate  cur,  whilst  the  congregation,  to  their  shame 
be  it  said — laughed. 

On  one  occasion,  an  unlucky  dog  in  search  of  his  master 
got  far  into  the  church  before  he  was  discovered,  but  he 
was  pursued  with  relentless  vigor  until  cornered.  Archie 
seizing  him  by  the  neck,  was  carrying  him  howling  from  the 
church,  when  Dr.  Herron  stopped  in  his  sermon.  Archie  noticing 
the  stop,  turned  round  and  waving  his  hand  to  the  Doctor,  ex- 
claimed, "Go  on,  Doctor,  go  on;  never  mind  me."  Imagine  the 
situation  if  you  can. 

He  had  a  great  regard  for  the  proprieties.  One  day  one  of 
Dr.  Herron's  daughters  thought  she  would  take  a  seat  in  the 
gallery.  This  did  not  suit  the  sexton's  ideas  of  propriety,  so  step- 
ping up  softly  to  where  she  was  sitting  and  reproving  her 
sharply,  he  took  her  by  the  wrist,  led  her  along  the  gallery,  down 
the  stairs  and  up  to  the  pastor's  pew,  and  seating  her  in  her 
proper  place,  walked  off. 

The  chandelier  presented  by  General  O'Hara,  was  a  never 
ending  source  of  delight  to  him,  as  it  was  to  the  boys,  who  often 
went  to  church  just  to  see  it  lit  up  "at  early  candle  light"  (as  Dr. 
Herron's  announcements  always  were  made  for  evening  service.) 
It  was  a  very  handsome  affair,  and  it  was  a  treat  to  see  Archie 


232  REMINISCENCES. 


light  it  up  for  service ;  each  sperm  candle  had  been  previously 
tipped  with  turpentine  so  that  as  the  torch  touched  it  it  went  off 
in  a  bright  flame,  and  as  the  hundred  candles  were  thus  lighted 
one  after  another,  in  rapid  succession,  it  was  a  source  of  never 
ending  pleasure  to  Archie  and  the  boys,  of  whom  it  need  not  be 
said  (perhaps)  your  speaker  was  one. 

Mr.  Lea,  in  his  address,  remarked  on  the  extreme  nicety  and 
accuracy  with  which  he  dug  the  graves  of  the  people.  It  was 
his  great  pride  to  have  an  exact  fit,  and  the  soil  being  well 
adapted  for  this,  he  never  failed.  (In  parenthesis  I  would  here 
say,  that  in  those  earlier  days  the  dead  were  buried  in  plain  coffins 
of  cherry,  walnut  or  mahogany,  and  not  in  the  extravagant 
caskets,  so  called,  of  the  present  day.)  But  Archie's  day  at  last 
came,  and  the  problem  was  solved,  "Who  should  bury  Archie 
Henderson,  when  he  had  buried  everybody  else  ?  " 

It  was  not  my  privilege  to  attend  a  Sabbath  School  in  my  boy- 
hood. I  do  not  remember  any  such  in  immediate  connection 
with  the  First  Church.  My  Sabbath  School  was  by  my  mother's 
side.  Every  Sabbath  afternoon  I  was  expected  to  recite  the 
Shorter  Catechism,  until  at  last  I  knew  every  word  of  it  from 
beginning  to  end;  but  we  did  have  Bible  classes  conducted  by  Dr. 
Herron  himself  in  the  church  building  on  Sabbath  afternoons  in 
the  winter.  These  were  attended  by  the  older  boys  and  girls, 
and  by  many  young  men  and  women,  and  were  interesting  and 
instructive  occasions  ;  a  portion  of  the  Scriptures  being  under 
examination,  and  each  person  being  expected  to  be  prepared  to 
answer  any  question  put  to  him  or  her. 

Here  I  first  met  Eichard  Lea,  a  long  headed  boy,  who  thus 
early  was  remarkable  for  his  good  behavior  and  studiousness,  and 
was  even  then  predestined  to  be  a  preacher  of  the  gospel. 

But  as  the  hour  is  late  and  Presbyterian  bedtime  (as  it  has 
been  called  to-night,)  being  near  at  hand,  I  must  bring  these 
desultory  and  unprepared  remarks  to  a  close,  and  commending 
your  venerable  church  to  the  fatherly  care  of  that  good  Lord 
who  for  one  hundred  years  has  prospered  you  so  largely,  I  pray 
that  the  future  may  be  as  the  past,  but  yet  more  abundant. 

The  Rev.  Geo.  Webster  represented  the  church  on  the  South 
Side,  in  which  some  of  the  members  of  the  First  Church  took 
part  when  it  was  being  planted  as  a  Sabbath  School :  and  which 
had  been  lately  aided  by  the  First  Church  (and  other  churches,) 


REMINISCENCES.  233 


to  escape  the  burden  of  debt.  He  spoke  of  the  general  life  of  a 
church  as  part  of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  gave  warmest  acknowl- 
edgments of  the  work  which  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  has 
accomplished  by  the  instrumentality  of  the  church  now  celebrat- 
ing its  centennial.  The  interest  attaching  to  his  remarks  is 
deepened  by  the  fact  that  in  the  interval  to  this  writing  his 
useful  life  has  been  closed,  and  his  reward  in  heaven  has  begun. 
He  knows  now  the  life  of  the  "church  of  the  first-born  which 
are  written  in  heaven." 

DevotionaJ  exercises,  serious  and  tender,  were  then  conducted. 
In  them  Dr.  J.  N.  Brownson,  of  Washington,  took  part,  and  they 
were  closed  by  the  last  pastor  of  the  church. 

Thus  ended  a  celebration  for  which  there  was  ample  reason, 
and  which,  by  all  that  transpired  during  its  progress,  emphasized 
the  grace  of  God,  and  the  tender  care  of  the  church's  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  necessity  of  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit : 
which  showed  how  the  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed :  which  has 
made  a  landmark  of  progress,  and  increased  the  knowledge  of 
that  progress  :  and  which  cannot  but  be  useful  both  as  a  guide 
and  a  stimulus  to  progress  in  the  future. 

May  God  own  all  His  own  which  was  in  it,  to  His  own  glory. 
"To  whom  be  glory,  and  dominion,  and  power,  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen." 


16 


234 


CHURCH    BUILDINGS. 


'8* 


If 

'ipf 


It  I  l#f  Ijlllf 

liHlBifi. 


ijjijiij|i 


Old  Sabbath  School  Koom— 1816. 

Church  Building— 1852. 

New  Sabbath  School  Room— 1881. 


236  PREFACE    TO    APPENDIX. 


PREFACE  TO  APPENDIX. 


Extracts  from  the  two  first  papers  here  printed,  together  with 
the  letter  of  the  Rev.  John  Rea,  were  read  in  the  services  of 
Sabbath  Morning,  April  20th.  The  remaining  documents  are 
printed  as  contributions  to  the  Church  History,  or  mementoes  of 
its  centennial  celebration,  or  records  of  its  present  organization. 


sLOv"UJv\mX    viKWV. 


APPENDIX.  237 


APPENDIX. 


BRIEF  HISTORY   OF  THE  FIRST  PASTORATE. 

BY  THE  DAUGHTER  OF  THE  PASTOR,  MISS  JANE  A.  BARR. 


Note.  Several  of  the  children  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Barr  were  of  eminent  piety. 
No  one  was  either  more  gifted  or  more  devoted  than  the  writer  of  this  notice  of  her 
father.  She  passed  the  closing  years  of  her  life  at  Washington,  D.  C,  where  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  her  in  February,  1877.  Her  interesting  correspondence  and  the 
manuscript  of  this  history  will  be  found  in  our  archives.  Scarcely  any  language 
can  express  the  affectionate  esteem  in  which  she  was  held  by  her  younger  sisters  and 
the  other  still  younger  members  of  the  family  circle.  May  the  printing  of  this  tender 
memorial  of  her  father  help  to  make  blessed  the  memory  both  of  father  and  daughter. 
-[S.  F.  S.] 

My  father,  the  Kev.  Samuel  Barr,  one  of  the  earliest  pioneer  preachers 
of  the  gospel  in  Western  Pennsylvania,  and  first  pastor  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Pittsburgh,  was  born  February  4th,  1751,  near  Lon- 
donderry, Ireland.  His  father,  who  died  in  comparatively  early  life,  was 
a  respectable  farmer.  His  mother  was  of  Scotch  parentage,  and  was  dis- 
tinguished for  her  devoted  piety  and  great  decision  of  character.  She 
had  an  apartment  in  her  house  consecrated  to  purposes  of  private  devo- 
tion, where  she  retired,  regularly  and  statedly,  to  hold  communion  with 
God ;  and  where  she  took  her  children,  one  by  one,  to  instruct  them  in 
the  great  principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  praying  with,  and  for  them, 
and  dedicating  them,  over  and  over,  to  the  God  of  the  Covenant. 

Who  can  doubt  but  that  she  followed  her  eldest  son  with  earnest 
prayer  through  his  educational  career,  then  across  the  trackless  ocean,  to 
the  home  of  his  adoption,  and  afterwards  to  his  chosen  field  of  labor  ? 
Perhaps  much  of  the  harmony  and  prosperity  of  the  First  Church  in 
Pittsburgh,  up  to  the  present  day,  may  be  attributed  to  the  fervent 
prayers  of  this  Christian  mother,  "for  are  they  not  all  in  God's  Book?" 

My  father  received  his  collegiate  and  theological  education  at  the 
University  of  Glasgow,  Scotland ;  and  I  have  in  my  possession  numerous 
certificates    from    the    professors    in   that    time    honored    institution    of 


238  APPENDIX. 


learning,  dating  from  1775  to  1783.     One  of  these  I  will  transcribe  here 
as  a  specimen  of  the  quaint  and  cautious  Scotch  professor : 

Glasgow  College,  April  5th,  1780. 

This  is  to  certify  that  the  bearer,  Mr.  Samuel  Barr,  student  in  Theology  in  this 

University,  did  attend  the  Ecclesiastical  History  lectures,  given  here  this  season,  from 

the  opening  of  the  same  to  the  date  hereof,  and  that  he  behaved  himself  dutif ull .- , 

properly,  and  worthily,  in  that  and  in  every  other  respect,  as  far  as  is  known  to  me. 

J.  F.  Macleod,  Historical  Professor. 

My  father  was  licensed  to  preach  the  glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed 
God,  late  in  1783,  or  early  in  1784,  as  in  the  latter  year  he  came  to  Amer- 
ica, one  year  after  the  preliminaries  of  peace  had  been  signed  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  thus  constituting  him  a  citizen  of 
this  country,  almost  from  the  period  of  its  existence  as  an  independent 
nation.  It  would  seem  as  if  there  was  a  special  Providence  in  my  father 
bringing  with  him  from  his  native  land  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Mr. 
James  McDowel,  of  New  London,  Chester  county,  whose  eldest  daughter  be 
married  the  following  year ;  and  as  the  church  at  New  London  was  then 
without  a  pastor,  my  father  was  immediately  invited  to  fill  their  pulpit, 
as  stated  supply,  which  he  did  for  several  months,  so  much  to  their  ac- 
ceptance, that  they  gave  him  a  unanimous  call,  which  he  held  under 
advisement  for  some  time,  but  afterwards  declined,  to  go  to  the  more 
destitute  West.  The  church  of  New  London  was  at  that  period  one  of 
the  oldest  and  most  respectable  in  the  country,  perhaps,  outside  of  the 
large  cities.  Their  organization  dated  back  to  1720.  Among  others,  they 
had  enjoyed  the  ministry  of  the  Rev.  Francis  Allison,  D.  D.,  who  was 
not  only  eminent  as  a  preacher,  but  who  had  established  among  them,  as 
early  as  1743,  a  classical  academy,  at  which  some  of  the  most  useful  and 
distinguished  men  of  that  day  were  educated.  He  was  called  from  them 
to  fill  the  high  position  of  Vice  Provost  and  Professor  of  Moral  Philos- 
ophy in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

As  my  parents  both  died  in  my  early  childhood,  and  all  are  dead  from 
whom  I  could  derive  information,  I  am  left  to  conjecture  as  to  why  my 
father  made  so  unselfish  a  choice,  and  I  account  for  it  in  the  following 
way :  Mr.  McDowel,  my  grandfather,  in  addition  to  the  cultivation  of 
a  large  farm,  was  also  extensively  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  flour, 
which  he  exported  largely  to  the  West  Indies,  and  had  a  train  of  wagons 
constantly  employed  in  carrying  it  to  Fort  Pitt,  then  the  very  far  West, 
the  few  settlers  beyond  coming  into  that  place  to  obtain  their  supplies. 
Hotels  were  scarce  at  that  time,  and  all  genteel  travelers  from  the  West, 
the  merchants  especially,  coming  East  to  make  their  purchases — more 
especially  those  gentlemen  to  whom  my  grandfather  consigned  his  flour — 
were  all  entertained  at  his  hospitable  mansion,  which  was  on  the  direct 
route  between  Pittsburgh  and  Philadelphia.  My  father  meeting  these 
responsible  gentlemen  from  Pittsburgh  there,  as  I  suppose,  was  so  im- 
pressed by  them  with  the  importance  of  the  field  and  its  entire  destitution, 
that  he  decided  in  favor  of  Pittsburgh.     Being  without  local  attachments, 


APPENDIX.  239 

the  country  "  was  before   him  where  to  choose,  and  God,"  I  trust,  "  his 
guide." 

I  have  no  idea  he  made  this  decision  without  a  positive  understanding 
with  these  gentlemen  of  standing  and  influence ;  he  was  too  prudent  and 
sensible  a  man,  too  devoted  as  a  husband  and  father  through  his  whole 
life,  for  me  to  entertain  for  a  moment  any  other  supposition.  Neither 
would  my  grandfather  have  been  justifiable  in  permitting  his  daughter  to 
leave  her  comfortable  home  upon  any  uncertainty.  Accordingly  he  was 
ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Castle,  (sine  titulo)  at  New  London, 
June  15th,  1785,  and  on  the  29th  of  October  following,  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Miss  Mary  McDowel ;  and  in  a  few  days  after  they  set  out 
for  Pittsburgh,  performing  the  whole  journey  on  horseback,  taking  with 
them  as  a  servant,  a  colored  girl,  who  also  rode  a  horse,  to  which  she  was 
strapped  to  prevent  her  falling  off  in  case  she  went  to  sleep.  I  presume 
they  reached  their  destination  in  November,  from  which  period  I  date 
the  commencement  of  my  father's  ministry  in  Pittsburgh. 

As  to  the  value  of  the  land  on  which  the  First  Church  is  built, 
which  was  obtained  from  the  heirs  of  Penn,  through  my  father's 
agency,  more  is  known  to  the  church  than  to  myself.  My  father's 
ministry  was  short,  something  less  than  five  years.  So  far  as  I 
can  learn,  his  interest  in  the  field  was  undiminished,  but,  as  was  to  be 
expected,  my  mother  was  unhappy  at  the  separation  from  her  family,  and, 
as  I  am  informed,  she  could  not  accustom  herself  to  the  rough  country 
and  people,  and  being  of  a  timid  disposition,  she  lived  in  continual  terror 
of  the  Indians,  who  were  very  numerous,  and  who  would  carry  off  one 
or  the  other  of  her  infant  boys  and  keep  them  all  day  in  their  wigwams, 
she  being  afraid  to  show  any  want  of  faith  in  them,  even  so  much  as  to 
ask  them  not  to  take  them,  or  enquire  when  they  would  bring  them  back  ; 
but  when  they  did  return  them,  she  always  felt  as  if  she  had  received 
them  from  the  dead.  I  infer  from  this  fact,  often  related  by  my  brother 
(lately  deceased)  to  his  children,  and  who  had  learned  it  from  his  mother's 
own  lips,  that  the  Indians  must  have,  at  this  time,  outnumbered  the  white 
population.  Hannah,  the  servant  girl,  when  she  returned  to  New  London, 
entertained  the  servants  at  her  old  master's  with  the  war  whoop,  with 
which  she  had  become  familiar  in  Pittsburgh. 

But  while  my  father's  stay  in  Pittsburgh  was  short,  it  was  long  enough 
for  him  to  create  sufficient  interest  among  all  classes  to  build  the  first 
house  of  worship  ever  attempted  to  be  erected  in  the  present  large  city 
of  Pittsburgh ;  the  humble  mother  church,  from  which  many  other  Pres- 
byterian churches  in  Pittsburgh  have  sprung.  He  sowed  the  good  seed 
of  the  Word,  which  has  brought  forth  fruit  a  hundred  fold  to  the  glory 
of  God.  In  going  West  just  when  he  did,  and  undoubtedly  he  made  great 
sacrifices  in  going,  I  believe  he  helped  to  save  that  region  of  country  to 
Protestantism  certainly,  and  perhaps  very  largely  to  that  grand  organiza- 
tion— the  Presbyterian  Church. 


240  APPENDIX. 


I  regret  exceedingly  that  in  the  frequent  removals  of  my  father's  family 
after  his  death,  most  of  his  valuable  papers  were  scattered  and  lost. 
They  no  doubt  contained  much  that  would  have  been  interesting  at  the 
present  day,  not  only  to  the  First  Church,  but  to  the  citizens  of  Pitts- 
burgh generally.  My  father  was  chairman  of  the  committee  which 
Located  the  first  market  house  in  Pittsburgh;  and  I  have  no  doubt,  from 
his  executive  talents,  that  he  did  much  to  advance  the  temporal  as  well  as 
the  spiritual  interests  of  the  community.  That  facilities  in  the  mode  of 
traveling  had  greatly  increased  in  a  few  years,  I  infer  from  the  fact  that 
we  have  furniture  in  the  family  which  our  parents  bought  and  used  in 
Pittsburgh,  and  brought  it  with  them  when  they  came  from  the  West. 

After  returning  to  the  East,  my  father  settled  in  New  Castle,  Delaware, 
within  twenty  miles  of  my  mother's  home.  The  church  in  New  Castle 
claims  to  be  the  oldest  Presbyterian  church  in  the  country,  with  the 
exception,  perhaps,  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia,  and 
the  church  at  Snow  Hill,  Maryland.  They  were  an  organized  church  in 
1700,  and  earlier.  The  building  occupied  at  that  time,  and  in  which  my 
father  preached  in  1790,  is  an  excellent  and  substantial  structure  yet, 
though  they  have  erected  alongside  of  it  a  handsome  modern  edifice. 
The  congregation,  though  never  very  large,  has  always  been  remarkable 
for  piety  and  culture.  As  early  as  1709,  Thomas  Janvice  was  a  ruling 
elder  in  this  church.  This  gentleman  was  a  Huguenot,  who  had  escaped 
from  France  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV,  upon  the  revocation  of  the 
Edict  of  Nantes.  My  youngest  sister,  Margaret,  is  married  to  one  of  his 
lineal  descendants,  Mr.  Benjamin  A.  Janvice. 

My  father  departed  this  life  May  .".1st,  1818,  and  with  my  mother,  who 
died  four  years  previously  (April  25th,  1814),  was  buried  at  New  Castle. 

Copied  from  the  family  record  : 

"  James  MeDowel,  first  son  of  Samuel  and  Mary  Barr,  was  born  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa., 
September  14th,  17*0:  was  baptized  April  24th.  1787,  by  the  Kev.  Joseph  Smith,  and 
died  of  consumption  at  New  Castle,  December  3d,  1814." 

"  Robert  Hamilton,  second  son  of  Samuel  and  Mary  Barr,  was  born  at  Pittsburgh. 
Pa.,  May  25th,  1788  ;  was  baptized  August  16th,  by  the  Rev.  James  Dunlap,  and  died 
in  New  Castle,  December  25th,  1875,  aged  eighty-seven  years  and  seven  months." 

He  attained  to  more  than  the  years  of  his  fathers,  yet  his  hearing  was 
perfect,  his  eye  not  dim,  nor  his  mental  faculties  in  any  degree  impaired. 
To  the  last  he  cherished  a  warm  affection  for  the  place  of  his  birth,  and 
always  rejoiced  in  its  increasing  prosperity. 

There  were  ten  children  born  in  Delaware,  most  of  whom,  with  the  two 
born  in  Pittsburgh,  are  interred  with  our  parents  in  New  Castle.  Said 
the  aged  Barzillai,  "  When  I  die,  bury  me  beside  my  father  and  my 
mother."  Two  only,  of  the  twelve  children,  died  in  their  early  infancy ; 
but  not  until  they  had  been  baptized  into  the  name  of  the  Divine  Trinity  ; 
"and  they  shall  see  His  face,  and  His  name  shall  be  in  their  forehead." 

Three  daughters,  Jane,  Elizabeth  and  Margaret  (the  youngest  of  the 
family),  still  survive,  and  are  living  witnesses  that  the  promises  of  God 
are  all  yea  and  amen  in  Christ  Jesus. 


APPENDIX.  241 


Signed  by  the  eldest  surviving  daughter  of  the  first  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Pittsburgh. 

Jane  A.  Barr. 
September  12th,  1877. 


No.  1753  Rhode  Island  Avenue,  •> 

Washington,  D.  C,  April  10th,  1884.  } 

Rev.  S.  F.  Scovel, 

Wooster,  Ohio. 
Dear  Brother  :  On  the  5th  instant,  at  my  request,  my  son  David 
R.  McKee  acknowledged  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  28th  ultimo, 
conveying  the  kind  invitation  of  the  Session  of  the  dear  old  First  Church 
of  Pittsburgh,  to  participate  in  its  centennial  anniversary  on  the  13th, 
14th  and  15th  instant.  I  then  feared  that  my  physical  condition  would 
debar  me  from  the  pleasure  of  joining  you  on  that  interesting  occasion, 
but  sent  word  that  I  would  write  definitely  in  a  few  days.  I  write  now 
to  say  that  I  think  it  will  be  dangerous  to  my  health  to  make  so  long  a 
journey  in  the  present  unsettled  state  of  the  weather.  I  am  still  suffering 
somewhat  from  the  effects  of  a  fall  on  an  icy  pavement ;  but  chiefly  from 
the  fact  that  a  cataract  lias  almost  wholly  darkened  the  windows  of  my 
earthly  tenement. 

If  time  served,  and  I  were  not  apprehensive  of  wearying  you,  I  could 
detail  many  incidents  touching  the  early  history  of  the  church  and  con- 
gregation which  might  be  new  to  the  present  generation.  I  must, 
however,  be  very  brief. 

I  am  now  in  my  eighty-fourth  year  and  my  life  has  been  a  busy  and 
eventful  one ;  but  its  courses  and  chief  activities  undoubtedly  have  been 
laid,  shaped  and  directed  greatly  by  the  influence  exerted  upon  me  as  a 
young  man  by  the  pastor  and  members  of  »the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Pittsburgh.  I  was-  born  at  MeKeesport,  December  7th,  1800.  My  father 
died  in  February,  1807,  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year  my  mother  removed 
her  family  to  Fort  Pitt.  My  recollection  is  that  the  First  Church  had  then 
for  minister  the  Rev.  Mr.  Steele,  and  that  the  congregation  worshiped  in 
a  log  building  on  Wood  street,  which  was  not  taken  down  until  the  walls 
of  the  new  brick  church  were  erected  around  it ;  and  that  Dr.  Herron 
soon  afterwards  arrived  from  Cumberland  county  and  assumed  the  pas- 
torate. Passing  over  the  intervening  nine  or  ten  years,  which  I  partly 
spent  on  the  farm  of  my  uncle  McCoy,, in  Washington  county,  and  in  the 
service  of  Messrs.  Hugh  &  James  Jelly,  merchants,  in  Pittsburgh,  I 
come  to  the  most  important  epoch  of  my  life,  when  in  the  winter  of  1817- 
'18  I  was  arrested  in  a  career  of  worldliness  and  frivolity — born  again,  as 
I  believe,  and  under  the  ministry  of  my  dear  old  pastor,  Dr.  Herron,  was 
admitted  to  the  communion  of  the  church.  Thenceforth  I  seemed  to  live 
in  a  new  world,  and  became  desirous  to  serve  a  loving  and  compassionate 
Master. 


242  APPENDIX. 

At  this  time  I  was  the  book-keeper  of  J.  L.  Thompson,  a  merchant  on 
Market  street.  Soon  after  this,  Dr.  Herron  and  his  Session  selected  three 
young  men  to  be  educated  by  the  church  for  the  gospel  ministry;  of 
which  number  I  was  one.  The  other  two  were  William  McComb  and 
Wells  Bushnell.  After  anxious  and  prayerful  consideration,  and  frequent 
consultation  with  my  friends,  I  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  ministry 
ought  not  to  be  my  future  vocation.  The  other  two  brethren  accepted 
the  invitation  of  the  Session,  received  a  collegiate  education  at  Canons- 
burg,  a  theological  training  at  Princeton,  were  in  due  time  licensed  to 
preach  the  gospel,  and  for  many  years,  as  I  am  informed,  served  the 
Master  in  Ohio  and  Northern  Pennsylvania.  Thus  "  two  were  taken  and 
one  was  left."  Among  the  friends  with  whom  I  consulted  on  this  im- 
portant question,  besides  Dr.  Herron,  were  the  venerable  and  beloved 
Rev.  Joseph  Patterson,  James  Cooper,  Samuel  Thompson,  James  Clowr 
Hugh  McClellan,  James  Brown  and  Robert  Beer. 

In  1818,  Messrs.  Southmayd  Scovel  and  Thomas  L.  Pierce,  of  Zanes- 
ville,  Ohio,  contracted  with  the  manufacturers  of  salt  on  the  Kanawha 
river  for  all  the  salt  made  or  to  be  made  during  several  years,  at  one 
dollar  per  bushel,  and  established  a  depot  at  Wheeling,  in  connection  with 
a  mercantile  store.  For  the  management  of  this  important  concern  I  was 
most  unexpectedly  selected.  By  the  advice  of  my  brother  and  other 
friends,  I  accepted  the  appointment,  and  in  July  of  that  year  removed  to- 
Wheeling,  where  I  resided  for  upwards  of  thirty  years. 

Wheeling  was  then  a  small  town  of  about  1,000  inhabitants ;  but  being 
the  western  terminus  of  the  great  National  Boad,  was  destined  to  become 
a  city  of  importance.  Its  moral  status  was,  however,  vastly  different 
from  that  of  the  city  from  which  I  had  recently  come.  The  Sabbath  was 
a  day  of  recreation  and  ordinary  business  pursuits.  There  was  no  per- 
manent church  organization  of  any  kind,  and  there  was  little  attention 
paid  to  the  education  and  religious  instruction  of  the  youth.  The  town 
was  considered  within  the  bounds  of  the  "Forks  of  Wheeling  Presby- 
terian Church,"  six  or  seven  miles  distant,  and  was  visited  by  the  pastor 
of  that  church,  the  Rev.  James  Hervey,  once  in  two  weeks.  He  lived  on 
a  farm  some  four  or  five  miles  distant ;  rode  in  on  Sabbath  mornings  and 
preached  to  a  limited  number  in  the  old  court  house,  and  then  rode  home. 
There  were  several  respectable  families  in  the  town,  called  Presbyterians  ; 
but  on  inquiry  I  could  find  but  one  man  and  some  five  or  six  old  ladies 
who  were  communing  members  of  that  church.  The  missionary  labors 
of  Mr.  Hervey  had  not  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  either  a  Sabbath 
School  or  weekly  prayer  meeting.* 

To  me  the  change  was  very  great  and  discouraging;  but  Providence 
had  evidently  sent  me  there,  and,  young  as  I  was,  I  felt  it  incumbent 
upon  me  to  do  something  to  better  the  morals  of  the  place.  In  this  I  was 
greatly  blest.  In  the  fall  of  that  year,  1818,  I  established  the  first 
Wheeling  Sabbath  School  (the  first,'  I  think,  in  Western  Virginia),  and 
was  superintendent  of  it  for  twenty-five  years  following.     About  the  same 


APPENDIX.  243 


time,  or  soon  after,  Wednesday  night  prayer  meetings  were  established, 
and  in  two  or  three  years  the  Presbyterians  were  formally  organized  as  a 
congregation,  and  in  1823  as  a  church,  by  the  Kev.  Mr.  McCurdy,  and  the 
services  of  Kev.  William  Wylie  were  secured  for  alternate  Sundays. 
From  this  time  forth  the  church  grew  with  the  prosperity  of  the  city,  and 
before  I  left  Wheeling  there  were  four  churches  of  our  order  in  the  city, 
with  regular  pastors.  By  the  grace  of  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church, 
the  "little  one  had  become  a  thousand."  Elected  an  elder  in  1823,  I  was 
called  frequently  to  attend  meetings  of  Presbytery  and  Synod,  and  in 
1823  served  my  first  term  in  the  General  Assembly. 

In  1827  I  was  elected  by  the  General  Assembly  a  member  of  the  first 
Board  of  Trustees  for  the  location  and  organization  of  the  Western 
Theological  Seminary.  After  careful  and  prayerful  consideration  of  the 
various  sites  proposed,  this  honored  school  of  the  prophets  was  finally 
given  to  Allegheny  City.  It  was  my  privilege  to  attend  the  semi-centen- 
ary of  that  school,  in  1877,  at  that  place.  Dr.  C.  C.  Beatty  and  myself 
were  then  the  only  survivors  of  the  original  Board  of  Trustees.  He  has 
since  gone  to  his  rest,  and  I  alone  remain. 

In  1850  I  was  appointed  by  President  Fillmore  to  be  one  of  three 
United  States  Commissioners  to  California,  to  settle  the  Indian  difficulties 
then  existing.  In  this  we  were  happily  successful,  and  I  had  the  honor 
of  locating  six  hostile  tribes  on  the  first  reservation  ever  allotted  to 
Indians  on  that  coast.  At  the  end  of  my  term  of  service  I  concluded  to 
remove  my  family  to  California,  which  I  did,  in  1852. 

It  would  extend  this  letter  to  an  unreasonable  length  were  I  to  detail 
my  participation  in  the  establishment  of  Sabbath  Schools  and  churches 
on  the  Pacific  coast.  I  will  mention,  however,  that  the  eminently  pros- 
perous Calvary  Church  of  San  Francisco  was  organized  in  1854,  and  from 
its  start  I  have  served,  in  my  feeble  way,  as  a  ruling  elder  through  the 
highly  successful  pastorates  of  Dr.  Scott,  Dr.  Wadsworth  and  Rev.  Mr. 
Hemphill,  and  still  retain  my  ecclesiastical  connection  with  that  church. 
About  the  organization  of  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Pacific  coast 
and  the  unexampled  growth  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  that  part  of 
the  country,  and  about  other  church  matters  in  different  sections  of  the 
country  in  which  I  have  been  interested,  including  the  organization  of 
the  great  American  Tract  Society  in  New  York,  *  and  my  service  during 
five  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly,  I  am  admonished  to  forbear 
further  detail. 

In  conclusion,  I  beg  you  to  do  me  the  favor  to  communicate  to  the 
meeting  a  brief  summary  of  the  foregoing,  and  to  express  my  grateful 
remembrance  of  the  guidance  and  assistance  I  received  from  the  pastor 

*In  1877,  at  the  Semi-Centennial  of  the  American  Tract  Society,  but  four  of 
the  founders  were  known  to  be  living.  Three  were  present,  of  whom  Mr.  R.  McKee 
was  one.  Now,  August,  1884,  Mr.  McKee  is  the  only  survivor  of  the  four.  Mr.  McKee 
has  also  received  the  honor  of  honorary  membership  in  the  Cliosophic  Society  of 
Princeton  College,  because  of  his  pioneer  work  in  behalf  of  education  in  West  Vir- 
ginia, Missouri  and  California. 


244  APPENDIX. 

and  members  of  the  First  Church  in  my  youthful  days.     My  prayer  is 
that  their  successors  of  the  present  day  may  be  equally  instrumental  in 
advancing  the  cause  and  kingdom  of  the  Saviour  in  the  time  to  come. 
Very  sincerely  yours, 


^  7^7 


570  Thirteenth  Street,  ^ 

Oakland,  Cal.,  April  9th,  1884.  } 
Dear  Old  First  Church  : 

It  is  with  sincere  regret  that  I  send  a  letter  instead  of  coming  in  person 
to  the  centennial.  I  know  you  will  have  a  glorious  time,  and  I  almost 
repine  at  not  being  able  to  be  there. 

A  visit  to  the  dear  old  place  would  at  any  time  call  up  much  of  what 
has  gone  into  tbe  years  that  are  now  numbered,  but,  at  such  a  service  as 
that  in  which  you  are  now  engaged,  all  the  past  would  be  brought  up  with 
intense  vividness.  My  earliest  recollections  of  the  old  home  church  run 
back  to  the  days  when,  accompanying  my  father  to  the  choir  gallery  and 
stepping  down  toward  the  front,  I  was  cautioned  not  to  touch  the  big 
fiddles, — and  I  still  recall  with  unfeigned  pleasure  my  admiration  of  the 
glories  of  "the  great  chandelier." 

Certain  days  are  very  distinct.  The  one  on  which,  in  company  with 
one  lone  deaf  lady,  whose  name  I  never  knew,  I  stood  up  to  confess  the 
Saviour  and  to  hear  the  solemn  words  of  our  dear  Dr.  Paxton  reminding 
me  that  "holy  angels  were  interested  spectators  of  this  scene." 

I  remember  well  the  ordination  of  father,  with  Mr.  McCord  and  others, 
to  the  eldership,— and  last  but  not  least,  my  first  Sabbath  School  work 
done  between  the  first  and  second  posts  in  the  old  Sabbath  School  room. 

With  the  exception  of  my  seminary  life,  it  has  been  twenty-two  years 
since  I  was  part  and  parcel  of  the  old  home  church,  yet  I  have  never  lost 
my  affection  for  it. 

And,  indeed,  I  am  more  and  more  coming  to  feel  that  it  has  been  the 
one  place  whence  the  holiest  and  most  enduring  influences  have  fallen 
upon  and  followed  my  life. 

Dear  old  church  !  <  Let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning  if  I  forget 
thee  !  Peace  be  within  thy  walls !  For  my  brethren  and  companions' 
sake, — Peace  be  within  thee ' — is  the  prayer  of 

Your  affectionate  son, 

JOHN  EEA. 


APPENDIX.  245 


1784  —  1884. 


The  Committee  op  Arrangements 

Cordially  invite  you  to  attend  the  exercises  in 
connection  with  the  celebration  of  the 

lOOth.    ANNIVERSARY 

OF  THE  ORGAXIZATION   OF 

THE    FIRST    PRESBYTERIAN    CHURCH, 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

ORDER  OF  EXERCISES. 

Sunday,    April  13— Services,  10.30  A.  M.  and  3  and  7.30  P.  M. 

Monday,   April  14 — Anniversary  Meeting,  3  P.  M. 

Tuesday,  April  15 — Reminiscences,  3  P.  M.     Reception,  7.30  P.  M. 

The  following  persons  will  participate  in  the  exercises : 
Rev.  S.  F.  Scovel,  Rev.  Wm.  Speer,  Rev.  Wji.  M.  Paxton, 

Rev.  Richard  Lea,  Rev.  Jas.  Allison,  and  others. 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  CENTENNIAL  SERVICES, 
FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  PITTSBURGH, 

April  13,  1884. 

Great  is  the  LORD,  and  greatly  to  be   praised  in  the  city  of  OUR 
COD,  in  the  mountain  of  His  holiness. 

1784. 
Pledges  op  Blessing  to   our  Fathers.      "Beautiful   for  situation, 
the  joy  of  the  whole  earth." 

1884. 
Bestowments  of  Blessing  upon  Ourselves.     "As  we  have  heard 
so  have  we  seen  in  the  city  of  The  Lord  of  Hosts." 

1984. 
Promises  op  Blessing  to  our  Children.     "  Tell  it  to  the  generation 
following." 


246 


APPENDIX. 


DR.  HERRON'S  TESTIMONY. 


The  following  extract  from  the  Presbyterian  Banner,  preserves  an  ex- 
tract from  a  special  sermon  by  Dr.  Herron,  and  is  'peculiarly  valuable  as 
an  example  of  his  fervor  and  of  the  positiveness  of  his  convictions.  The 
sermon  itself  was  destroyed  by  fire,  after  having  been  carefully  kept  by 
the  Doctor's  family  for  years. 

"  The  house  of  worship  belonging  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of 
this  city,  which  preceded  the  present  large,  substantial  and  commanding 
edifice,  was  erected  in  1804.  Tbe  late  Eev.  Francis  Herron,  D.  D.,  had 
begun  his  labors  here  in  1811.  It  was,  therefore,  with  great  propriety 
that  he  was  invited  to  preach  the  last  sermon  in  the  old  house,  which  he 
did  with  much  force  and  deep  feeling,  although  nearly  eighty  years  old. 
At  the  close  of  the  sermon  he  made  this  declaration  : 

'And  now  I  wish  to  say,  in  conclusion,  my  career  in  the  gospel  ministry  is  drawing 
very  near  to  a  close.  And  having,  in  my  feehle  manner,  preached  '  the  glorious 
gospel  of  the  blessed  God,'  for  more  than  half  a  century,  to  my  fellow-sinners,  both 
here  and  elsewhere,  I  wish  it  to  be  recorded  and  remembered,  that  I  am  not  ashamed 
of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  And  would  to  God  that  it  was  written  as  'with  a  pen  of  iron 
and  with  a  point  of  a  diamond,'  on  every  heart,  both  of  saint  and  sinner,  that  this 
gospel  is  the  only  remedy  for  the  ruined  creature,  man.  And,  my  fellow-sinners,  if 
you  are  ever  saved  from  the  ruins  of  your  apostacy,  you  must  be  saved  by  this  gospel, 
according  to  God's  plan  of  salvation  through  Christ,  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever. 
Amen.' 

Such  a  testimony  from  such  a  man,  when  his  work  was  about  completed 
and  his  long  life  nearly  ended,  is  of  great  weight.  He  had  been  a  close 
observer  of  men  and  things,  and  had  wielded  an  influence  in  this  commu- 
nity such  as  no  other  man  possessed.  He  had  seen  the  utter  worthlessness 
of  everything  else  as  a  substitute  for  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  had  often 
witnessed  the  mighty  power  of  God  in  the  salvation  of  sinners." 


APPENDIX.  247 


AN  ADDRESS  AT  THE  COMMUNION. 


READ    BY    THE    REV.    DR.   RICHARD    LEA, 

In  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1880,  more  than 
fifty-seven  years  after  his  first  communion  in  1823. 


[Note.  A  copy  of  this  unique  and  invaluable  address  was  made  and  placed  in 
the  corner-stone  of  the  new  lecture  room.  The  original  will  be  preserved  in  the 
«hurch  archives.] 

In  the  year  1823,  there  stood  where  this  building  now  stands,  a  large 
brick  building  with  three  aisles,  and  a  heavy  gallery  around  three  sides. 
At  night,  candles  were  in  the  pulpit  and  on  the  pillars  of  the  gallery,  also 
blazed  over  the  centre  aisle  from  a  glass  chandelier,  at  that  time  the 
largest  in  the  city.  Three  large  stoves,  one  at  each  front  door,  just  inside 
the  aisles,  warmed  the  spacious  building  sufficiently  for  the  hardy  worship- 
ers, while  warm  bricks  could  be  procured  from  the  sexton,  at  a  reasonable 
rate,  for  those  whose  health  or  frame  was  more  delicate.  At  that  time 
there  was  one  very  small  weekly  meeting,  every  Wednesday  night,  with 
so  few  men  to  lead  in  prayer,  that  sometimes  a  pious  old  lady  was  called 
upon  to  pray.     [Mrs.  Mary  Wilkins,  who  died  January,  1879. — S.  F.  S.] 

There  was  no  instrument  of  music ;  an  organ,  or  choir,  would  by  many 
have  been  esteemed  an  abomination.  One  man,  with  a  scarcely  tolerated 
pitchpipe,  sat  at  the  front  of  the  pulpit,  a  small  Englishman,  a  professional 
musician,  who  almost  invariably  slept  through  the  other  services,  and  was 
not  unfrequently  awakened  by  those  depositing  the  collection  bags  to  per- 
form his  duty  at  the  close.  Interments  were  then  made  in  the  yard, 
which  embraced  the  ground  now  occupied  by  Trinity  Church.  The  green 
sward,  fine  trees,  and  elevated  position,  with  its  multitude  of  tombstones, 
made  it  a  quiet,  beautiful  and  spacious  spot,  where  hundreds  walked, 
wept,  and  prayed.  The  congregation  was  then  by  far  the  most  influential 
in  the  city,  presided  over  by  its  dignified  and  earnest  pastor,  Kev.  Dr. 
Herron,  in  the  prime  of  useful  life.  The  Sabbath  School  (before  infant 
schools  were  known  here,)  was  taught  in  the  lecture  room,  and  in  the  rear 


of  the  church  there  was  a  small  room  where  the  elders  not  only  convened 
for  business,  but  met  every  Sabbath  morning  for  prayer,  inviting,  on  com- 
munion morning,  all  who  wished  to  come  and  worship  with  them.  That 
little  room  was  a  sacred  place.  There  the  elders  so  long  prayed.  There 
the  young  men  commenced  their  prayer  meeting,  and  laid  their  plans 
for  the  formation  of  the  Third  Church.  There  the  Western  Theological 
Seminary  first  convened ;  it  contained  the  library  and  the  first  class ; 
and  there,  perhaps  more  than  anywhere  else,  was  formed  the  Western 
Foreign  Missionary  Society.  But  we  are  now  speaking  of  1823,  and 
must  not  anticipate.  Then  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  was  in 
Diamond  alley.  It  was  customary  on  communion  Sabbaths,  for  one  of  the 
pastors  to  shorten  the  services  in  his  church,  to  enable  him  and  others 
wishing  to  do  so,  to  attend  the  other  cluirch  in  time  to  commune  with 
them.  This  fraternal  intercourse  was  very  precious  to  the  few  who  par- 
ticipated. The  first  communion  I  ever  witnessed  in  Pittsburgh,  was  in 
this  church,  I  am  almost  certain,  in  1823.  On  that  morning  Dr.  Swift 
entered  in  his  solemn,  stately  way,  and  was  warmly  greeted  by  Dr.  Herron. 
Behind  him  came  one  or  two  of  his  elders,  who  walked  up  to  the  elders  of 
this  church  and  received  tokens  for  a  few  of  the  members  of  the  Second 
'Church  who  wished  to  commune.  Communion  services  commenced.  The 
senior  elder,  Mr.  Cooper,  was  slightly  paralyzed,  his  hands  shaking  with 
great  violence  when  much  excited.  He  was  very  particular  in  everything 
connected  with  the  tokens  and  insisted  upon  every  young  applicant  being 
well  posted  in  the  shorter  catechism,  and  being  perfectly  free  from  Hop- 
kinsianism,  the  error  feared  in  that  day.  Judge  Snowden  was  exceedingly 
polite  and  gentlemanly  in  all  his  actions.  Mr.  Blair  was  calm,  but 
prompt,  sterner,  and  perhaps  feared  more  than  the  others,  while  Mr. 
llannen  appeared  to  be  either  praying,  or  doing  something  to  promote  the 
comfort  of  somebody  else  all  the  time.  Blessed  men !  a  noble  line  of 
elders  followed  you,  but  they  too  would  be  pleased  with  the  veneration 
and  love  with  which  my  soul  goes  out  to  you  this  day.  While  the  hymn 
was  sung : 

"  'Twas  on  that  dark,  that  doleful  night," 

(a  hymn  which  Dr.  Herron  always  sang  at  communion,  and  I  always  after 
him,  until  it  was.  dropped  from  the  Hymnal,  to  my  great  regret,)  the 
people  rose  from  all  parts  of  the  house,  to  occupy  the  first  table,  prin- 
cipally family  by  family  rising  and  going  forward  together,  leaving 
behind  the  non-communicants — who  pretty  generally  remained.  Some- 
times this  separation  of  families  produced  powerful  impressions.  All 
seated,  and  the  tokens  lifted  by  the  elders,  a  chair  was  taken  from  the 
altar  and  placed  at  the  head  of  the  table  for  old  father  Patterson.  He 
was  too  old  to  stand,  and  sitting  like  a  patriarch  at  the  head  of  his 
family,  he  commenced  his  prayer  of  consecration,  "Oh,  God,  we  thank 
Thee  for  the  light  of  this  blessed  day.  We  deserve  Egyptian  darkness  ! 
We  thank  Thee  for  the  air  we  breathe,  given  by  Thy  goodness ;  for  the 
Water  we  drink.  .  Oh !  for  the  water  of  life."     Concluding  with   special 


mention  the  elements  before  him.  "This  is  the  Lord's  table,"  he  con- 
tinued, "only  believers  have  a  right  here,  but  all  believers  are  welcome. 
Some  of  the  under  shepherds,  without  any  right  to  do  so,  have  built 
fences  across  the  fold,  thus  debarring  brethren  from  communing  one  with 
another.  Lord,  come  down  speedily  and  destroy  these  crooked,  unsightly, 
illegal  fences,  that  there  may  be  but  one  fold,  one  shepherd.  Say  what 
you  will  of  church  order,  no  man  has  a  right  to  debar  his  brother  from 
the  Lord's  table."  Dr.  Herron  explained  the  ordinance,  in  a  clear  and 
lengthy  manner.  Dr.  Swift  made  an  impassioned  appeal  to  the  com- 
municants. Three  tables  were  leisurely  filled,  one  after  the  other.  Father 
Patterson,  after  he  had  served  the  third  table,  looked  around  upon  the  non- 
communicants,  saying  in  his  tremulous  way  :  "  I  have  a  request  to  make 
of  you.  Go  home  and  write  in  your  diary  :  This  day  I  deliberately  rejected 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  staid  in  my  pew,  while  dear  friends  arose  and 
left  me.  It  may  be,  that  you  may  be  left  behind  when  they  enter  into 
His  kingdom."  Those  solemn  words  made  a  deep  impression  upon  many 
hearts  that  day. 

At  that  communion,  or  some  time  after,  a  poor  lady  lost  her  token  ;  it 
became  mixed  with  her  handkerchief  in  her  reticule.  Father  Cooper  did 
not  notice  her  confusion,  and  still  held  out  his  hand  to  receive  it.  She  arose 
from  the  table.  Dr.  Herron  led  her  back  witli  assuring  words,  but  her 
agony  hardly  ever  abated  ;  she  took  it  as  an  evil  omen.  Afterwards,  in  a 
debate  in  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh  on  tokens,  the  Doctor  gave  this  instance 
as  the  reason  why  he  abandoned  in  this  church  their  further  use. 

At  that  communion  table  sat  many  private  members,  who  were  soon 
afterwards  to  be  prominent  in  and  out  of  the  Session  :  my  Sabbath  School 
teachers,  James  Wilson  and  Alexander  Laughlin  ;  John  Herron,  Robert 
Beer,  so  lately  deceased  ;  his  brother  Thomas,  and  likely  Rev.  Wells  Bush- 
nell ;  Francis  Bailey,  prominent  in  establishing  the  church  at  East  Liberty  ; 
Thomas  Plummer,  who  by  will  endowed  the  Mission  School  which  became 
the  germ  of  the  Sixth  Church  ;  Judge  Porter,  who  patronized  the  same 
church  so  liberally ;  Eliza  Mowry  and  her  sister  Jane,  so  useful  in  Lawrence- 
ville,  and  perhaps  the  majority  of  that  noble  colony  which  went  down  to  the 
Point  among  the,  destitute,  with  their  pastor's  co-operation,  and  founded 
the  Third  Church,  which  from  the  beginning  came  to  the  front  in  activity. 
Indeed  it  was  at  that  time  said,  that  no  church  could  be  built  in  or  near 
Pittsburgh,  without  the  iron  and  glass,  the  men  and  women  of  the  First 
Church.  It  has  a  noble  set  of  helpers  now,  but  not  one  of  the  newer 
organizations  is  envious  of  the  ancient  glory  of  the  mother  church. 

What  occurred  before  1823,  a  child  thirteen  years  old  can  hardly  be 
expected  to  tell,  but  the  forty-eight  communions  which,  as  a  member,  I 
enjoyed,  are  precious  memories.  One  night  Dr.  Herron  preached  a 
sermon  upon  the  text,  "Lord,  revive  Thy  work."  He  had  given  it  out  in 
the  morning  and  an  unusual  attendance  was  present.  Soon  after  com- 
mencing his  sermon,  some  one  rose  in  the  audience  and  made  for  the 
door;  the  Doctor   stopped,  and  looked    at  him    without   speaking  until 

17 


250 


APPENDIX. 


lie  was  fairly  out,  and  then  proceeded.  80011  another  restive  one  arose;  the 
Doctor  waited  until  he  was  gone,  and  then  said,  "If  any  more  wish  to 
go,  I  will  wait,  as  I  do  not  wish  to  be  disturbed."  After  awhile  another 
rude  one  arose  in  the  gallery  and  began  clattering  down  stairs.  The 
Doctor  paused,  making  the  steps  more  audible,  until  the  man,  evidently 
angry,  closed  the  door  with  a  bang.  "  It  appears,"  said  the  Doctor,  "that 
the  devil  is  determined  to  annoy  us  to-night ;  if  any  more  wish  to  go,  go  ! 
I  shall  not  stop,  but  finish  my  discourse  amidst  any  confusion."  At 
the  close,  he  informed  the  people  that  the  lecture  room  was  lighted, 
and  after  the  benediction  was  pronounced,  he  hoped  that  the  careless 
would  go  home,  and  those  who  were  desirous  of  a  revival,  would  meet 
him  there,  to  pray  for  half  an  hour  for  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
upon  the  church.  The  lecture  room  was  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity. 
Dr.  Campbell  was  wonderfully  stirred  up.  The  two,  aided  occasionally 
by  Mr.  Joice  and  other  ministers,  held  meetings  every  night  during  a 
dark,  rainy  winter,  the  people  coming  with  lanterns  and  umbrellas, 
through  unlighted  streets,  for  an  hour  of  singing,  prayer  and  exhorta- 
tion ;  that  was  all.  Sometimes  the  anxious  were  called  to  stand  up,  or 
wait  after  the  dismissal  for  private  conversation,  but  no  striving  for 
novelty.  Quietly,  steadily,  mightily  the  work  progressed.  But  Oh  ! 
what  communions  we  then  had.  Accessions  every  time,  of  praying 
youth.  Men  of  thought  and  power,  who  joined  to  labor  and  to  love. 
Then  began  the  practice  of  receiving  the  accessions  at  the  front  of  the 
pulpit. 

Then,  too,  [after  the  revivals  of  1824  and  1825,]  came  an  era  of 
Sabbath  Schools,  infant  schools,  prayer  meetings  and  monthly  concerts — 
a  vast  amount  of  work  done  with  holy  quietness  and  power.  New 
elders  also  succeeded  the  old  ones,  chosen  now  for  their  ability  to  feed 
the  flock  and  lead  them  in  works  of  benevolence.  Some  of  these  in- 
stallations were  peculiarly  impressive.  John  Wright,  perhaps  the  oldest 
elder  of  this  church  now  alive,  is  perhaps  the  main  pillar  of  the  church 
at  Black  Lick,  Pa.    .We  hope  father  Willson  will  commune  to-day. 

A  peculiarity  of  that  revival  was,  that  neither  of  the  speakers  presented 
much  variety.  Dr.  Herron's  prayer  meeting  addresses  were  often  monot- 
onous. He  never  could  tell  an  anecdote,  or  declaim.  Dr.  Camp- 
bell's addresses  nearly  always  ended  in  the  same  way.  "Young  man 
in  the  midst  of  pride  and  power,  beware  how  you  spend  your  talents. 
Old  man  with  white  locks  waving  in  the  winds  of  death,  the  great  white 
throne  and  the  judgment  bar  is  just  at  hand.  Thoughtless  young  girls, 
prepare  to  meet  God  in  judgment."  Mr.  Hugh  McClelland,  in  old-fash- 
ioned style,  led  the  singing,  almost  always  beginning  as  we  assem- 
bled, with  "Come,  Holy  Spirit,  Heavenly  Dove."  Undoubtedly  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  there,  and  gave  efficacy  to  the  simplest  means.  About  that  time 
began  the  Young  Men's  Saturday  night  prayer  meeting,  and  Young  Men's 
Education  Society,  with  ladies'  sewing  circles,  and  City  Tract  Distribution, 
monthly  ;  one  Fair  and  Festival  was  tried,  but  Professor  Nevin,  Miss  Mary 


APPENDIX.  251 

Herron  and  a  few  others  so  opposed  it,  Mr.  Nevin  powerfully  through 
the  press,  that  for  a  time  this  modern  growth  was  cheeked.  He  also  wrote 
a  pamphlet  against  the  anxious  seats,  and  delivered,  on  Sabbath  after- 
noons, a  solid  course  of  lectures  on  "the  Analogies  of  Eeligion"  with 
truth,  science,  etc.  Here  was  one  source  of  Dr.  Herron's  powe*— he  could 
set  others  to  work  !  In  his  church  then,  emphatically,  General  Assemblies, 
and  Synods,  and  Presbyteries  and  Conventions,  met  and  prayed  and  com- 
muned together.  His  membership  were  the  elite  of  the  city,  bringing  to 
the  First  Church  visiting  Presidents  and  traveling  great  men.  He  gath- 
ered into  his  puli.it  great  preachers  of  every  denomination.  Henry 
Bascom  one  night  preached  nearly  three  hours,  poor  Archie  relighting 
the  candles  so  sparingly,  that  the  darkness  appeared  to  add  to  the 
solemnity.  Everything  great  and  good  he  brought  to  his  church  as  a 
centre.  He  aided  every  good  cause  mightily,  but  that  kind  of  liberality 
which  leaves  its  own  church  prayer  meetings  to  languish,  and  lends  its 
best  efforts  to  novel  schemes,  lie  was  too  far  behind?  or  before  ?  this  age 
to  understand,  i.  e.,  he  held  the  high  place  of  Zion,  and  was  equal  to  the 
position.  At  that  time,  too,  some  of  Pittsburgh's  wisest  and  best  (outside 
of  the  communion,)  lent  their  influence  to  the  cause.  His  trustees  ^frv 
often  conspicuous  as  editors,  doctors,  and  lawyers.  It  will  be  Ion-  before 
the  names  of  Craig,  Ross,  Agnew  and  others,  are  forgotten. 

An  infidel  lecturer  once  said:  "Free  thought  and  liberal  action  can  have 
no  chance  in  Pittsburgh  until  Dre.  Herron,  Black  and  Bruce  die."  Infidel- 
ity has  lately  said,  that  the  churches  would  die,  if  unsupported  by  the 
women!  We  thank  them  for  thus  complimenting  our  worthies,  how- 
ever unintentionally,  but  assure  them  that  when  all  our  present  communi- 
cants have  joined  the  past,  others  here  will  be  pressing  on  to  the  "mar- 
riage supper  of  the  Lamb."  Woman  gave  the  human  Saviour  birth  ; 
wis...  men  presented  to  His  infancy  gifts,  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh. 
The  truly  wise  and  good  have  followed  Him  ever  since.  The  future 
is  as  sure  as  the  past.  The  God-man  is  now  upon  the  throne.  All 
opposing  voices  will  be  unheard  amidst  the  hallelujahs  of  heaven. 

The  "Gallagher  Revival"  which  followed,  extended  over  the  city.  He 
had  more  churches  and  preachers  to  help  him.  Music/under  Billings 
and  Gilbert,  awoke.  Temperance  and  missions  enlisted,  more  than  ever, 
all  classes. 

Another  old  mortality  will  some  day  retouch  these  inscriptions. 
I  close  by  saying,  between  1830  and  1830,  Rev.  Alex.  Brown  went  from 
this  church  and  founded  the  church  at  Birmingham.  Joseph  Reed 
became  pastor  at  Highland.  Thos.  Beer  selected  as  his  helpmeet  one 
of  your  best  Sabbath  School  workers,  and  went  to  Mount  Hope,  Ohio. 
Young  Comingo  persuaded  Miss  Craig  to  Steubenville.  Aaron  Williams, 
with  Jane  Herron  and  another  family  of  same  name,  established 
the  church  at  Minersville.  Following  their  examples,  I  allured  another 
of  your  daughters  to  Lawrenceville,  often  coming  back  on  the  Saturday 
before  communion,  until  one   day— the  old  elders  of  1823  all  o-one,  the 


252  APPENDIX. 


old  house  gone,  hosts  of  communicants  gone — they  told  me,  that  my  old 
pastor  wax  gone!  From  this  pulpit,  heavily  draped,  I  looked  there  into 
his  coffin,  and  amidst  his  mourning  congregation  saw  his  venerable  form 
for  the  last  time.  Never  mind ;  some  day  soon,  with  fourteen  hundred 
of  my  own  communicants,  I  will  find  him  among  his  people,  around  the 
Master  they  so  faithfully  served,  and  will  give  and  receive  a  welcome 
so  warm  that  eternity  cannot  cool  it.  The  Lamb  who  is  in  the  midst  of 
the  throne,  shall  lead  us  unto  fountains  of  living  waters,  and  God  himself 
"shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  our  eyes."  Speaking  of  tears,  I  never  saw 
the  Doctor  cry  but  once.  After  the  funeral  services  of  one  of  his  elders 
were  closed,  he  being  quite  old,  approached  the  coffin,  looked  at  the  face 
of  the  dead  sorrowfully  for  a  while,  then  said,  with  all  his  frame  con- 
vulsed, "Good  bye,  Harrnar!"  and  passed  on. 

I  have  confined  my  history  to  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Herron,  because  he 
was  the  only  pastor  I  ever  had.  His  predecessor,  Mr.  Steele,  had  finished 
his  work  long  before  1823.  Both  of  his  successors  received  a  rich  legacy 
from  the  one  which  preceded  him.  Both  sowed  and  reaped  plentifully  ; 
with  them  seed  time  and  harvest  followed  each  other  swiftly.  The 
blessing  of  God  still  rests  upon  both.  Long  may  their  useful  lives  be 
preserved !  This  church  does  not  shine  comparatively  as  conspicuously 
as  it  did  of  yore,  for  the  blessed  reason  that  so  many  bright  lights  burn 
all  around  it.  Positively  it  has  constantly  increased  in  power.  It  is  no 
ancient  ruin,  like  Castle  Dudley  or  Kenilworth,  but  a  mighty  fortress, 
such  as  Stirling  or  Warwick.  Peace  has  been  within  these  walls,  pros- 
perity within  the  palaces.  It  has  sent  forth,  on  every  hand,  streams  to 
make  glad  the  city  of  our  God,  but  has  maintained  its  own  fullness. 
Silently,  but  steadily,  its  communicants  have  marched  heavenward,  some 
of  them  grandly  and  some  of  them  very  humbly,  but  all  surely.  They  never 
halted,  except  to  gather  new  power.  Never  seriously  mutinied.  Never 
fired  upon  each  other.  Kept  right  on,  even  in  the  great  schism.  And 
now,  with  undiminished  numbers,  inscribe  upon  their  banner,  "Good  will 
to  all.     Love  to  each  other.     Loyalty  to  the  king." 

[Note.  T  have  really  striven  to  give  names  sparingly,  lest  the  paper  should  weary 
you.  Should  you  wish  to  know  the  names  of  all  the  good,  and  true,  and  well  beloved 
who  have  gone  from  this  church,  you  must  call  the  roll.  Were  we  to  call  it,  how 
solemn  the  silence  would  be  !  No  answer  ever  comes  from  the  departed  !  "  But  we 
which  are  alive  shall  not  prevent  them  which  are  asleep,  for  the  Lord  himself  shall 
descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout!  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel  !  and  with  the 
trump  of  God  !  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  .first .'  Then  we  which  are  alive,  and 
remain,  shall  be  caught  up  together  with  them,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air  !  and  so 
shall  we  ever  be  with  the  Lord."] 


COPY  OF  THE   ORIGINAL  GRANT   OF  PROPERTY    BY   THE 
HEIRS  OF  WILLIAM  PENN. 


[Note. — The  original  parchment  is  still  in  possession  of  the  church  and  iu  excellent 
preservation.] 

This  Indenture,  made  the  twenty-fourth  Day  of  September,  in  the 
Year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-seven,  Between 
The  Honorable  John  Penn,  Junior,  and  John  Penn,  of  the  City  of  Phila- 
delphia, in  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania,  Esquires,  late  Proprieta- 
ries of  Pennsylvania,  of  the  one  Part,  And  The  Trustees  of  the  Presby- 
terian Congregation  of  Pittsburg  and  the  vicinity  thereof,  in  the  County  of 
Westmoreland,  in  Pennsylvania  aforesaid,  of  the  other  part,  Witnesseth  : 
That  the  said  John  Penn,  Junior,  and  John  Penn,  as  well  for  and  in  Con- 
sideration of  the  laudable  Inclination  which  they  have  for  encouraging 
and  promoting  Morality,  Piety  and  Religion  in  general,  and  more  espe- 
cially in  the  town  Pittsburg  as  of  the  sum  of  Five  Shillings,  Current 
Money  of  Pennsylvania,  unto  them  in  hand  paid  by  the  said  Trustees  of 
the  Presbyterian  Congregation  of  Pittsburg  and  the  Vicinity  thereof,  at 
and  before  the  Sealing  and  Delivery  hereof,  the  Receipt  whereof  is  hereby 
acknowledged,  Have  given,  granted,  bargained,  sold,  released  and  con- 
firmed, And  by  these  Presents  DO  give,  grant,  bargain,  sell,  release  and 
confirm  unto  the  said  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Congregation  at 
Pittsburg  and  the  vicinity  thereof,  in  the  County  of  Westmoreland,  their 
Successors  and  Assigns,  Two  Certain  whole  Lots  or  pieces  of  Ground  and 
the  one  full  equal  half  part  of  a  Lot  or  piece  of  <  hound,  lying  contiguous 
to  each  other,  situate  in  the  Town  of  Pittsburg,  containing  in  Breadth, 

on  the  whole,  One  Hundred  and  Fifty  Feet  and  in  Length  or  Depth 

feet  (The  said  two  whole  Lots  marked  in  Colonel  Wood's 

Plan  of  the  said  Town,  Nos.  439  and  438,  and  tbe  said  half  Lot  is  part 
of  No.  437.)  Bounded  southeastward  by  the  remainder  of  said  Lot 
437,  conveyed  for  the  Use  of  the  Episcopal  Church  ;  northeastward,  by 
Sixth  street;  northwestward,  by  vacant  Lot  No.  440  ;  and  southwestward, 
by  Virgin  alley,  Together  witli  all  and  singular  the  Right,  Members  and 
Appurtenances  whatsoever  thereunto  belonging  or  in  any  way  apper- 
taining ;    To  have  and  to  hold  the  said  two   whole  Lots  and  the  said 


254  APPENDIX. 

half  Lot  or  pieces  of  Ground,  Hereditaments  and  Premises  hereby 
granted  or  mentioned,  to  be  granted  with  the  Appurtenances  unto  the 
said  Trustees  of  Presbyterian  Congregation  of  Pittsburg  and  the  vicinity 
thereof,  in  the  County  of  Westmoreland,  their  Successors  and  Assigns, 
To  the  only  proper  Use,  Benefit  and  Behoof  of  the  said  Trustees  of  the 
Presbyterian  Congregation  at  Pittsburg  and  the  vicinity  thereof,  their 
Successors  and  Assigns  forever,  according  to  the  true  Intent  and  Meaning 
of  an  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsyl- 
vania aforesaid,  enacted  into  a  Law  the  twentieth  day  of  September, 
instant,  entitled  "An  Act  to  Incorporate  the  Presbyterian  Congregation 
at  Pittsburg  and  the  vicinity  thereof,  at  this  Time  under  the  Pastoral  Care 
of  the  Reverend  Samuel  Barr ;"  and  to  and  for  no  other  Use,  Intent  or 
Purpose  whatsoever. 

In  Witness  whereof,  the  said  Parties  have  interchangeably  set  their 
Hands  ami  Seals  hereunto.     Dated  the  Day  and  Year  above  written. 

Sealed  and  delivered  by  the  said  ^j 
John  Penn,  Junior,  in  presence  of   I 

Peter  Miller,  f  JOHN  PENN,  JuN.    [l.  s.] 

John  Spooner.  J 

Sealed  and  delivered  by  the  said 

John  Penn,  in  presence  of  | 

John  T.  Mieelin,  V  JOHN  PENN.  [l.  b.] 

Peter  Miller.  I 

Be  it  remembered,  That  on  the  twenty-fourth  Day  of  September,  A.  D. 
1787,  Before  me,  George  Bryan,  being  one  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania,  came  Peter  Miller,  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  <  rent,  and 
upon  his  solemn  affirmation  according  to  Law,  did  say  that  he  was 
present  and  did  seethe  above  named  John  Penn,  Junior,  and  John  Penn, 
Esqs.,  seal  and  as  their  act  and  Deed  deliver  the  above  written  Indenture, 
And  that  he  did  also  see  John  Spooner  and  John  T.  Mifflin  subscribe 
their  names  as  witnesses  to  the  Execution  thereof;  And  that  the  name 
Peter  Miller,  thereunto  also  subscribed  as  witness  to  the  Execution 
thereof,  is  his  own  Handwriting. 

Witness  my  Hand  and  Seal,  the  Day  and  Year  aforesaid. 

GEO.  BRYAN,     [l.  s.] 


APPENDIX.  •  255 


FIEST  CHUECH  OEGANIZATION. 


Pastor, 


*  ELDERS. 

Eobert  S.  Davis,     ordained  1862.  Charles  Holmes,       ordained  1879. 

David  Eobinson,     ordained  1862.  James  L.  Marshall,  ordained  1879. 

John  A.  Caughey,  ordained  1873.  Samuel  A.  Espy,        ordained  1879. 

A.  M.  Marshall,      ordained  1873.  John  T.  Daniel,         ordained  1879. 
Jas.  Laughlin,  Jr.,  ordained  1873. 

DEACONS. 

David  W.  Bell,  William  E.  Newell, 

Charles  Holmes,  <  >.  M.  Ilartzell, 

Frederick  Discjue,  Thos.  P.  Day. 

TRUSTEES. 

Eobert  Dalzell,  President,  John  W.  Chalfant, 

Jas.  T.  Wood,  David  W.  Bell, 

William  Means,  Chas.  E.  Speer, 

Jacob  Painter,  David  Eobinson, 

•  James  Laughlin,  Jr.,  R.  C.  Miller. 

Eobert  S.  Davis,  Treasurer. 
J.  F.  McConnell,  Janitor. 
April  1st,  1884. 


256 


APPENDIX. 


SABBATH  SCHOOL. 


OFFICERS    AND    TEACHERS,    1884. 


Superintendent James  Laughlin,  J r. 

Associate  Superintendent Fred.  Disipie. 

Primary  Department — Sup't Mrs.  W.  R.  Murphy. 

Primary   Department — Ass't Miss  Nannie  McClure. 

Recording  Secretary Jno.  T.  Daniel. 

General  Secretary Frank  W.  Gill. 

Treasurer R.  C.  Miller. 

Assistant  Secretary Thos.  C.  Pears. 

Alexander  McClure, 

Librarian* <^   Harry  F.  Davis, 

Oscar  Bingham. 

Miss  Maggie  McKnight, Organist, 

Miss  Sadie  E.  Smythe, 

Choir /  Miss  Florence  Huggins, 

Mr.  C.  C.  McCord, 

Mr.  J.  M.  McFrederick. 


TEACHERS. 

Mr.  David  Rohinson, 

Mrs.  Matthew  Bigger, 

Mr.  S.  A.  Espy, 

Mrs.  J.  I.  Logan, 

Mr.  J.  L.  Marshall, 

Mrs.  J.  T.  Daniel, 

Mr.  W.  C.  Lilley, 

Mrs.  Mary  Poindexter, 

Mr.  Charles  Holmes, 

Mrs.  J.  M.  Taylor, 

Mr.  R.  C.  Miller, 

Mrs.  F.  A.  Smith, 

Mr.  John  Thompson, 

Mrs.  A.  W.  Bell, 

Mr.  T.  C.  Pears, 

Mrs.  T.  C.  Pears, 

Mr.  Matthew  Bigger, 

Miss  A.  W.  Miller, 

Mr.  T.  S.  Brown, 

Miss  M.  L.  Chalfant, 

Mr.  W.  G.  Stewart, 

Miss  Nellie  McKnight, 

Mr.  J.  L.  Moore, 

Miss  Maggie  McKnight, 

Mr.  C.  F.  Perkins, 

Miss  Luella  Rees, 

Miss  Ettie  M.  Speer, 

Miss  Douglass, 

Miss  Nellie  Richards, 

Miss  Craig, 

Miss  Mollie  Armstrong, 

Mrs.  Bessie  Home, 

Miss  Florence  Pickersgill, 

Miss  Nannie  Patrick, 

Miss  M.  D.  Lecky, 

Miss  Josephine  Scott, 

Miss  Kate  M.  Reifsnyder, 

Miss  J.  H.  Lecky. 

APPENDIX.  257 


YOUNG    Men's    ONION. 
Matthew  Bigger,  .         Presidmt 

J.  F.  McConnell,  -  Vice  Pre9idenU 

T.S.Brown,         -  .  Vice  President. 

Thoa.  C.  Pears,  .  Secretary. 

Thos.  P.  Day,       -  _         •   _         2W^ 

Wm.R.  Newell,  -  .  Librat 


irmii. 


Prayer  Meeting,  Monday  Evening. 
Business  Meeting,  Monthly. 


WOMAN'S  WORK. 


FOREIGN   Missions. 

Mrs.  Richard  Waring,       -  President. 

Mrs.  Anna  Logan,       -  .      Vice  President. 

Mrs.  I).  W.  Bell,  -  .            Secrd 

Mrs.  Wm.  R.  Murphy.                            .  .      Treasurer. 

HOME    MISSIONS. 

Mrs.  Samuel  Rea,  '  .            President. 

Mrs.  II.  A.  Collier,     -  .      Vice  President. 

Mrs.  Thomas  Pears.  .           Secretary. 

Mrs.  Matt.  Bigger,       -                           .  .     Treasurer. 

CHRISTIAN    ASSOCIATION. 

Mrs.  Anna  Logan,  President. 

Miss  M.  Lenny,  .      yirr  Pfesident. 

Mrs.  Samuel  Rea,  Vice  President. 

Miss  Emma  Bailey,     -  .     Secretary. 

Miss  A.  Arthurs,  -  .            Treasurer. 


WOMEN'S  MEETINGS. 


Foreign  Missions,       .     .     .     .First     Friday  of  the  month,  2*  P.  M 

Home  Missions, Second  Friday  of  the  month,  2  J  P.  M 

PrayerJMeeting, Third    Friday  of  the  month,  2  j  P.  M 

Christian  Association,     .     .     Last      Friday  of  the]  month,  2'  I >.  M 


258 


APPENDIX. 


CHURCH    CHOIR. 


Professor  Amos  Whiting, 
Mr.  Chas.  C.  Mel  lor, 
Sopranos — Mrs.  C.  H.  Kloman, 

Miss  Sadie  E.  Sraythe, 
Miss  Mamie  Markle, 
Miss  Lizzie  Orth, 
Miss  Mary  Caughey, 
Miss  Saide  Bailey, 
Miss  Mattie  Taylor, 
Miss  M.  Cunningham, 
Miss  Clara  Lambert. 
Altos — Miss  Lizzie  Mcllwaine, 
Miss  Carrie  S.  Whiting, 
Miss  Georgie  Taylor, 
Miss  Florence.  Huggins, 
Miss  Emma  Crawford. 


Director. 
Organist. 

Tenor— C.  Il.^Siedle, 
N.  Coffin, 
J.  B.  McMillan, 
Minor  Scovel, 
C.  C.  McCord, 
S.  P.  Kennedy. 

Basso — J.  N.  Bebout, 

R.  H.  L.  Naylor, 
J.  M.  McFrederick, 
J.  M.  Jones, 
J.  Hanson  Rose. 


Abstract  from  Annual  Report  to  Presbytery,  April  1st,  1**4. 

Church  Membership,  -     706     Deacons,  7 

Elders,  ...  9     Sabbath  School  Membership,      467 

Amount  contributions  for  all  purposes  during  the  year,      -       8:21,412 

Property  Valuation  : 

House  of  Worship,         -  $140,000 

Chapel  and  Sunday  SchooljRoom,      ...  25000 

1'arsonage,       -                           ....  i,Sj000 


SOURCES    OF    INFORMATION.  250 


SOURCES  OF  INFORMATION. 


The  following  are  sources  of  information  for  any  who  may 
desire  to  trace  more  fully  the  history  of  the  "elder  days,"  and 
will  be  found  full  of  interest : 

1.  The  contemporary  journals  of  the  city,  especially  the  Pittsburgh  Ga- 
zette and  the  Mercury. 

2.  The  works  of  Messrs.  Brackenridge  and  Craig,  mentioned  in  "  The 
Church  and  the  City." 

3.  The  printed  records  of  Redstone  Presbytery. 

4.  The  minutes  of  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh  from  1802-1832.  [Edited  by 
Mr.  L.  Loomis.] 

5.  "Old  Redstone,"  by  the  Rev.  Joseph  Smith. 

6.  "The  Centenary  Memorial  of  Presbyterianism  in  Western  Pennsyl- 
vania," especially  Mr.  Win.  Darlington's  paper  therein  (1876). 

7.  "Black  Robes,"  Robert  Nevin. 

8.  Dr.  Paxton's  "Memorial  of  Dr.  Herron." 

9.  David  McKnight's  Sabbath  School  History  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church. 

10.  Dr.  John  Douglass's  Sabbath  School  Pamphlet. 

11.  Craighead's  "Scotch  and  Irish  Seeds  in  American  Soil." 


